Jim Rohn ~ How to Have the Best Year Ever! Full 4 hr video on Personal Development Life Coaching

[Music] Thank you, thank you very much. Did you hear what the cow said to the farmer on a cold winter morning? "Thanks for the warm hand." Anyway, it's going to get better, so don't panic on me. I, I start small. Nice to see all of you. How many of you have never seen me before? This is your first time. Oh, wow, most of you. Okay. I keep thinking, for sure, I'm more famous than that, but, uh, you know, that is the truth. I'm delighted to be here. Been looking forward to it for a long time, and it's nice to be back. You know, I was here not too long ago. It's nice to be invited back. It says something when you're invited back. Doesn't say everything, but says something. Maybe it says, "Let's give him one more chance, right? See if he can get it right this time." But I'm delighted to have all of you here. We're going to spend the day together. I feel two major responsibilities, and I'm sure you can guess what those are. Number one is to make sure you get your money's worth, right? When you shell out your cash, especially these days, you want to make sure you get full value for the money you spent. And I know the tab for the seminar was not that much. Pretty modest fee to get in. Most of you, your tips for the week, right? So it wasn't that much. But I want you to be able to say when you walk out of here today, "It was worth my money."

But my biggest responsibility is to make sure you get your time's worth. And the reason I say that is because time is more valuable than money. In fact, you might start your notes with that: Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but unfortunately, you can't get more time. If somebody asks you to spend your money, that's pretty easy, right? We live in America, we're wealthy, so the money is not the problem. But what if somebody asked you to spend a day, right? You got to think that over carefully. And I know you did. I wouldn't waste one of my days, not for anybody, not for anything. Once I understood how valuable they were, I don't waste any. But to make an investment like today of your money and your time, I appreciate that. Today is going to be costly for me. It's going to cost, cost me one of my days to be here, right? And some money, of course. But, you know, I don't need the money. I take the money, but I, I don't, I don't need the money. But guess what? I do need the time. So I'm here not to just joke with you. I'm here not to just tell some funny stories and give a performance and walk away. I'm here to give you some value, and I want to make it worth your time. Uh, I'm going to invest a day, you're going to invest a day. Let's get the most out of it and see what we can walk away with today.

Anyway, for you that have not seen me before, just very briefly, let me just tell you my story. I grew up in Idaho farm country, southwest corner of Idaho. In fact, my father still lives on the old homestead where I grew up. Uh, he'll be 89 his next birthday, still hasn't retired. I'm proud of my dad. He's never been ill. He's really something. I'm trying to get him to retire this year. 88, I'm telling my father, "What a good year to retire when you're 88." And he says, "Hey, talk to me in 10 years, right? I might be ready." But anyway, I went to high school, I graduated, I went to college one year. Halfway through my second year of college, I decided I was smart enough, so I quit. One of my major mistakes. I should have stayed in school. Uh, but I thought, "Heck, you know, I'm smart enough to get a job." That's what life's all about, right? Get a job, pay your bills, work hard, stay out of trouble, keep your fingers crossed, hope for the best. And I figured I was at least prepared to do that. So I quit college and, uh, went to work. Little while later, got married, got my little family going, and I'm out there doing what I thought was the best I could.

But about age 25, I'm starting to struggle. I've purchased a little more than I can conveniently pay for on time, and the creditors are starting to call, saying, "Hey, you told us the check was in the mail. What's the deal?" And I'm getting embarrassed by that. I'm also embarrassed, big mouth me, with all the fancy promises I made to get married. I'm way behind on those promises, and I'm getting discouraged, wondering what to do. And I thought, "Well, maybe I should go back to school, right? One year of college, pretty short on an application, but, uh, you know, tough to go back to school, right? Especially when you got your family going. Time to stay is when you're there." Uh, so I discounted that. I thought, "Well, if I, you know, had my own business, that would be the way to go." But, you know, I'm short on money too. Too much month at the end of the money. If you've ever been there, that's where I was, age 25. So I had to discount that, and I'm discouraged, wondering where do I go from here?

And then the miracle happened for me. Good fortune came my way. And who can explain good fortune? I don't know. Remarkable things that happen to you at a particular time. Sometimes it's just unexplainable how those things happen. One of my friends says, "Well, hey, things don't just happen. Things happen just." And maybe that's it. I don't know. I'm an amateur on life, I guess, like most of us are, trying to figure it out, how to make it valuable. But I was ready, and my good fortune was at age 25, I met a very wealthy man. His name was Mr. Scha. Mr. Earl Scha. A friend of mine had gone to work for him, and he started telling me about this man. He said, "You got to meet this man. I've gone to work for. He's wealthy, but he's easy to talk to, uh, and he's got a unique philosophy of life." And the more he kept talking about this man, I thought, "Well, I've got to meet this man." So, sure enough, shortly after that, I had a chance to meet this remarkable, wealthy man, and I was impressed. He was, was wealthy, sure enough, he was easy to talk to. I was so intrigued within a few minutes, I said to myself, "If I could be like him, farm boy from Idaho, if I could be like him, I'd give anything." And then I thought, "If I could just get around somebody like him, and if he would teach me what to do, I would be willing to learn. I'm, I'm coachable." And that was my good fortune.

A few months later, this wealthy man that I met, Mr. Scha, took a liking to me, hired me, gave me a job. I went to work for him, and I spent the next five years in his employ. And then, unfortunately, he died at the end of that period at age 49. His last five years, but the first five years of my new life, I got to spend with this remarkable man. And my dream came true. He coached me, he taught me. He taught me the books to read, he taught me the disciplines, he taught me the changes to make in my language and personality. And the things he shared with me during that five years literally changed my life. Turned my life around. Changed my income, changed my bank account, changed my future, changed everything. I've never been the same since that unique experience. And I wish he was still alive today, Mr. Scha. I'm sure if he was alive today, especially after this seminar, "Idaho Farm Boy makes it to Dallas-Fort Worth, full house, standing room only," uh, pretty awesome. I'm sure if he was alive, I'd be calling him today saying, "You won't believe what's happening to me. I've had a chance now to share with other people what you shared with me."

But anyway, how I got here. Uh, 30-plus years ago, I was living in Beverly Hills, California. And one day, a friend of mine, businessman friend, said, "Jim, would you, I'd like to have you come and share your story with my service club that I belong to, the Rotary Club." He said, "I know your story, Idaho Farm Boy makes it to Beverly Hills." But he said, "I think my club members would love to hear your story." He said, "If I arrange one of our breakfast meetings, would you come tell your story? Just share a few thoughts." I said, "Okay." Uh, so I agreed to go give this breakfast talk. And guess what? They liked it. And my telephone rang. I got another call, got another call saying, "We heard, uh, you've given your story and shared some ideas. Would you come talk to our club? Talk to our club." First thing I know, I'm starting to devote a piece of my business time to giving these talks. And then one day, a businessman who'd heard my talk, I think two or three times, approached me and said, "Would you come and share that story and some thoughts with my management and sales? Said, I got this little company going." And he said, "If you'd come tell your story to my organization, he said, I'd be happy to pay you." And I thought, "Wow, wouldn't that be something?" So I agreed to go do it, and I got paid. Little did I know, another fortune was waiting for me to translate my ideas into talks and speeches and seminars. Now I've written some books, it's on cassette tape, and now I get to travel around the world. Last year I was in Japan and Israel, Spain, uh, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Canada, and now Dallas-Fort Worth. So, Idaho farm boy gets to travel around the world and share his story. And here I am today. Anyway, it's almost too much for me to comprehend from where I started, raised in obscurity, uh, in a little small farm community, and now to be here today is pretty awesome for me.

So anyway, that's just a little bit about my story. My story is probably more intriguing for me than it is for you, but I wanted to hear it again, so I thought I would just, you know, bore you with it. Anyway, I don't ask you to be impressed today. I'm the one that's impressed from where I came from to have a chance. But that's the American dream, right? Come true. Chance to start from scratch, start from obscurity, start with pennies, start with nothing, and have a chance to transform your life, change your life, set your goals, and see what you can accomplish. So anyway, that's how I got here, and I'm just delighted that this day has arrived, and I truly want to make it valuable for you. Let's go to work. Here's what I hope you'll find out of this seminar today. For your notes, here's what I hope you'll find. Number one: Sincerity above all else. Today, I hope you'll find me sincere. Best place for people to start to communicate is sincerity on both sides. I'm sure you're sincere, or you wouldn't be here today, right? To spend this kind of money, to spend this kind of time, roll up your sleeves today, go to work like I am, and get this message. Uh, you've got to be sincere. So I assume you're sincere. Now, I want you to see me sincere. But I've got a good note for to make: Sincerity is not a test of truth. Important note to make: Sincerity is not a test of truth. We must not make the mistake of saying, "He must be right, he's so sincere." That would be a mistake. And here's why: It's possible to be sincerely wrong. So we don't mistake sincerity for truth, right? Sincerity is only a test of sincerity. Truth, truth has to yet be tested by truth, okay? But hopefully, you will find me sincere and truthful.

Next, a combination of things I hope you'll find here today: Ideas plus inspiration. Ideas plus inspiration. Ideas, business ideas, and social ideas, and personal ideas. We all need ideas, right? How to have a good day, ideas, how to have a good year, ideas, how to have your best year ever, ideas, good health ideas, personal relationship ideas, how to deal with your family, ideas, sales management ideas, financial freedom for the future, ideas. We all need good ideas. So today, I hope you gather up by notes and by what you can remember, a lot of ideas. I want to share as many with you as I possibly can in the time constraints we have today. This is going to go very rapidly. I used to think a day like this was a long day. Found out it's pretty short. But I'm going to go as fast as I can, share with you as many ideas as I possibly can. And here's why: Ideas can be life-changing. Ideas can be life-changing. And sometimes all you need is just one more in a series of good ideas. It's like dialing the numbers into the lock, right? You got five or six numbers dialed into the lock, the lock still won't come open. But you don't need five or six more numbers. Maybe you just need one more. And maybe a seminar like this could do it. A sermon could do it. The lyrics from a song could do it. The dialogue from a movie could do it. Conversation with a friend might do it. That one last piece you need, number, dial it into the lock. That's it. The lock comes open. There's the door for you to walk through. And maybe this seminar today could furnish that for you. One more idea. I know you've come with a lot already. Sometimes we get the impression, I used to have that, that I only had this much going for me and I needed this much. Usually not true. And I'm sure not true of this audience. Where I find you today, as well-dressed as you look today, you know, as fine as you are sitting here today, it isn't that you know, you've got this much going for you and you need this much. I would assume you've got this much going for you, and maybe all you need is just a few more thoughts, ideas, uh, to furnish you some ways and means to turn your life into the dream you want it to be. So ideas. The seminar is going to be loaded with ideas. I want you to take good notes.

But here, here what else I hope you'll find here today, and that is inspiration. And who knows the mystery of inspiration? Why some people are inspired and some are not. You were inspired to get here, some were not. Who knows the mystery of that? I don't know. How come you made it, the rest of them didn't make it? We don't know what that mystery is. Some people turned it down, some people said it cost too much, some people said it's going to take too much time, some people are too busy, right? A lot of different excuses why some are inspired to take advantage of something that comes to town, others pass it up. We don't know the mystery to that. Here's what I call it: Mysteries of the mind. And I just leave it at that. Some things I don't try to figure out. I take the simple approach now, right? Some people do, and some people don't. I mean, that's about as profound as my philosophy is. Some buy, and some don't buy. Some go for it, and some don't. Some change, and some don't. And if you've been around for a while, you can usually work out the numbers, right? Out of 10, you know, three do, seven don't. Whatever business you're involved in, pretty soon you got this ratio going, the ones that do, the ones that don't. You say, "Well, why don't the ones that don't?" How come they don't? We don't know. I just leave it as a mystery. I used to try to understand all that. I just take the simple approach now. The guy says, "This happens to me, this happens to me, this goes wrong for me, and all this stuff goes wrong for me. How come all this stuff happens to me?" I say, "I don't know. It beats me." The best I've been able to figure out is, those kind of things always happen to people like you. I mean, right? That's the best I got. I don't know. I'm an amateur on this stuff. What do I know? So just take the simple approach, right? That's how it is. Who knows?

Interesting story says the day the Christian church was started. Now, I'm an amateur on the Bible, but best account I can remember, the day the Christian church was started, a magnificent sermon was preached. Great, great presentation. And if you're a student of all at all of good communication, it was one of the classic presentations of all times. The sermon, first day the Christian church was started. And it said, this sermon, this presentation was given to a multitude, meaning a lot of people. But it was interesting, as the account gives us the record, it says when the sermon was finished, there was a variety of reaction to the same sermon. Isn't that fascinating? I find it fascinating. It said some that heard this presentation were perplexed. And I read the presentation, sounded pretty straightforward to me. Said, "Why would somebody be perplexed with a good, sincere, straightforward presentation?" Best answer I've got: They are the perplexed. I mean, you know, what other explanation is there? It doesn't matter who's preaching, right? Said some that heard this presentation mocked and laughed, made fun of the presentation. I thought, "Hey, this looks pretty sincere to me. If you give a sincere, honest presentation, why would somebody mock and laugh?" Easy explanation: They are the mockers and the laughers. What else would you expect them to do, right? I used to try to straighten all that out, say, "Well, they shouldn't do that." I don't do that anymore. You know, I've got peace of mind now. I sleep like a baby, not trying to straighten all this stuff out. I used to be so naive. I used to say, "Well, liar shouldn't lie." See how naive can you be? Of course, they're supposed to lie. That's why we call them liars. They lie. They lie. So I don't straighten this stuff out anymore.

Anyway, it said some that heard this magnificent presentation didn't know what was going on. And they're usually easy to spot. They're usually saying, "What's going on?" Right? I mean, they don't know what's going on. But interesting, right? A variety of reaction to the same sincere, honest presentation. Now, it also says, in wrapping it up, some that heard the presentation believed. And I think that's who the speaker was looking for, the believers. Interesting. Now, it said the number of believers was about 3,000. So, pretty good first day, 3,000. I've had some first days, but I never had 3,000. But anyway, 3,000 were believers, and that's who the speaker was looking for, the believers, out of this multitude. And that's about as close as we can come to understanding the mystery. Some believe, and some mock, and some laugh, and some are perplexed, and some don't know what's going on. And you just have to leave it that way. Why? 'Cause that's the way it's going to be. The way to be brilliant is to find out how it's going to be, and then say, "Here's how it should be." I mean, that's how you become brilliant. So anyway, who knows the mystery? I call it Mysteries of the mind. We don't understand. But I don't try to change it anymore. On this particular story, as far as we know, they didn't have classes after the presentation to try to de-perplex the perplexed. I mean, as far as we know, they left them perplexed. They left the mockers mocking, they let the laughers laugh, laugh. I mean, they didn't come back and try to straighten all this out. You say, "Well, how can you build a church?" Well, make another presentation, you'll get some believers, and some mockers, and some laughers, and some who don't know what's going on. So that's about the best we can do. So, but I'm glad I've got the believers here today. You believed enough to shell out your cash and part with your time and some of your effort and energy, and I appreciate that. So hopefully, you'll find some inspiration here today.

All right, to get the most out of today, couple more notes. Number one: Be thankful. That's a good way to capture the most of a day like this. Be thankful for what you already have. That shouldn't be any problem in America. Being thankful. Everything we need is available in America. Everybody wants to come here, right? The last time I was here, that little presentation I gave, everybody wants to come here. America. People haven't plotted and schemed the last 40 years saying, "If I could just get to Poland, everything would be okay." No. Everybody wants to come to America. Why? Everything's available here. All the books you need, all the sermons you need, all the churches you need, all the schools you need, all the instruction you need, all the inspiration you need, all the capital you need, all the markets you need, all the challenge you need, all the information you need, all the seminars you need. Everything's available here. This is America. So, number one, let's be thankful for what we already have. Thanksgiving does this: opens up the doors, opens up the windows, opens up the channels. Thanksgiving for what you already have. I did a seminar one weekend up at the ranch, up at Clear Lake. Got a lodge up there, nice setting, High Valley High Serenity Ranch for the weekend, Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday. People drove in from around California. I got there late Friday afternoon. Everybody had pretty well already gotten there. I couldn't believe the parking lot. Continentals and El Dorados and Mercedes and Cadillacs and unbelievable Ferraris, one Rolls-Royce, unbelievable. I walked in, good-looking crowd, about like this, sitting there ready for the weekend seminar. My opening remarks were, "Ladies and gentlemen, I think the rest of the world would find it strange that we have all come here this weekend to try to figure out how to do better. I think the rest of the world would say, 'I don't understand. Guy's got a Rolls-Royce and I got to get to the seminar, find out how to get another one of these Rolls-Royces?'" Unbelievable. Anyway, let's be thankful. Here's what locks up the doors and the channels to receive more: cynicism. That locks you away, that prevents you from learning more. Being a cynic about the past and the future, cynical about the marketplace, cynical about the people, cynical about the institution, cynical about the setup, cynical about yourself, cynical about your chances. See, that locks away all the chance for stuff to flow your way. So, good advice, I think today, start off, be thankful.

Here's number two: Listen well. That's going to be a challenge today. I understand that. Seems like most of you know our life is still going on outside these four walls, right? Most of our life seems like it's out, you know, continuing out there. Family and business and associates and market and economy and whatever else is happening in the midst of your life. And to sort of, you know, pull your attention from what's going on out there and put it in here for just a few hours, I know is a challenge. But do the best you can. Listen well. And here's the last one: Take good notes. Be a good student today. Take some good notes. I've not come to entertain you, as you can tell by my opening joke, right? I would not make it in Las Vegas. So we don't have a dog and pony show today. No entertainment. But I do have some ideas. Take some good notes. Somebody showed me the other day notes that they took about 21 years ago attending one of my seminars out in Los Angeles. He said, "I still use these notes I took 21 years ago to help me in my business, relationship with my family." So I'd like to have these notes that you take today become that valuable for you. Then it would be worth me making the investment to come and spend a portion of my life, my time, my energy here. And I want this investment I'm making here today to pay off. And one of the ways it can pay off for me is for you to take good notes and then go away and use whatever makes sense. Because what I feast on coming back around is the stories out of this audience today. Sure enough, six weeks from now, six months from now, six years from now, somebody's going to, by phone, by letter, by personal contact, walk up to me and say, "The things you shared that day got me thinking, and I started making some changes. And let me tell you what's happened to my business. Let me tell you what's happened to my sales career. Let me tell you what's happened to my relationship with my family." See, that'll make it worth it for me. Not the money, the return, something you can't buy with money. If somebody says, "Thank you for touching my life and taking the time to make the investment." And that's what I'm all about. So if you'll become a good student today, and here's the last note: Don't be a follower, be a student. You'll be happy to know today, we haven't come seeking disciples. We've got no movement for you to join. I'm just here to share some of my experiences, good ideas, best I can. But I think that's good advice: Don't be a follower, be a student, right? Take advice, but not orders. Take information, but don't let somebody, you know, order your life. Make sure what you do is the product of your own conclusion. Excellent note to make: Make sure what you do is the product of your own conclusion. Not to do what someone else says. Take what someone else says, process it, think about it, ponder it. If it makes you wonder, if it makes you think, then it's valuable. Then when you go take action, make sure that the action is not what somebody told you to do. Make sure the action is the product of your own conclusion. If you'll follow just a little bit of those simple guidelines, I'm telling you, the learning process can be speedy, swift, powerful. Your learning curve can go up. And then applying it to your business, your life, your family conversations, equities of all kinds, you'll find some progress like I did. That first five years when I met a teacher willing to share with me, turned my life around. Progress I couldn't believe happened for me.

Okay, let's get started. I want to review. I was here last time, and we talked about the five major pieces to the life puzzle. And I just want to review those because it lays such a good foundation for all the rest that I want to share with you today. We got a lot of subjects to cover, so we're going to go rather swiftly, okay? Put on your mental track shoes here and run with me today because I'm going to deal mostly in concepts. Expect you to, you know, fill in a lot of the details because I got a lot to share. I want to get through it all. But let's lay this foundation again of the five major pieces. Happens to be the title of my latest book, but I think it is so valuable in laying a foundation. It's some of the things I learned between ages 25 and 30. The teacher who taught, taught me, taught me so well. He dealt in these fundamentals. We call these fundamentals, we call these basics. Basics for sports, fundamentals for sports, fundamentals for your business, fundamentals for the way you deal with your family. A few simple things, a few basic things that if you practice every day can make all the difference in the world how it works out. I boiled it down to five major pieces to the life puzzle. Let's just review those.

Number one is philosophy. Philosophy. Philosophy. As I taught the last time I was here, philosophy, in my personal opinion, is the major determining factor in how your life works out. Philosophy, the major determining factor in how your life works out. Philosophy. To form our philosophy, you got to think. You got to use your mind. Got to process ideas. And this whole process over a lifetime, starting way back here when we were children, schools that we've attended, our parents, our experiences, all this stuff that we've processed by the thinking process helps to develop our philosophy. And in my opinion, each person's personal philosophy is the major factor in how your life works out. Here's what I called it in that last presentation when I was here: It's called the set of the sail. Each person's personal philosophy is like the set of the sail. Now, I used to think it was circumstances that ordered my life. If someone would have asked me at age 25, "Mr. Ran, how come you're not doing well? Pennies in your pocket, creditors calling, nothing in the bank, behind on your promises to your family. You live in America, 25 years old, got a beautiful family, every reason to do well, and things are not going that well for you. What is wrong here?" It would not have occurred to me to blame my philosophy. I mean, it would not have occurred to me saying, "Well, I got this lousy philosophy, and that's how come I got pennies in my pocket and nothing in the bank and things aren't working well." That would not have occurred to me. I found it much easier to blame the government. Much easier to blame the tax problem. I used to say, "Taxes are too high." Top tax rate when I first started paying taxes, 91%. Back then, when your income reached a certain level, all your income over that, 91%. So I used to say that's too, oh. Now the tax, top tax rate's about 33%. But people are still saying, "What taxes are too..." See, but you can't use that anymore. If it's gone from 91 to 33, how could it be too high? Come on. I threw all that old excuse stuff away. Some people found it, though, and they're using it these days. My old list, I used to blame the traffic, the weather, used to blame circumstances, right? People say, "I'm too, too tall, I'm too short, I'm too old. I was raised in obscurity, raised on a farm, parents of modest means." All the stuff. If you would ask me, "How come you find yourself here, Mr. Ran, age 25, living in America, land of abundance and opportunity, pennies, zero in the bank, not doing well, creditors calling?" It would not have occurred to me to blame my philosophy. I found it easier to blame the company, company policy. I used to say, "If this is all they pay, how do they expect you to do well?" So I figured that, you know, my future was going to be tied to what everybody else was arranging, the economy, and right, interest rates. I used to say, "Things cost too much." That was my whole explanation, not my philosophy, until my teacher taught me better that this is where the problem was, my own personal philosophy.

Here's what's exciting about each person's personal philosophy. That's what makes us different than dogs and animals and birds and cats and spiders and alligators. That's what makes us different than all other life forms: the ability to think, the ability to use your mind, the ability to process ideas, and not just operate by instinct. In the winter, I'm telling you, the goose can only fly south. What if south doesn't look too good? Tough luck. It can only fly south. But see, human beings are not like a goose. Can only fly south. I mean, you can turn around, go north, you can go east, you can go west. You can order the entire process of your own life. And we do that by the way we think. We do that by exercising our mind. We do that by processing ideas and come up with a better philosophy, a better strategy for our life goals, for the future, okay? Plans to achieve those goals. All this comes from developing our philosophy. Philosophy helps us to process what's available. Well, when we get here, we got seed, and we got soil, and we got some rain, and we've got some, what, sunshine, and we've got some seasons, and we've got the miracle of life. Now, the key is, what do you do with all this stuff? How do you turn all this stuff that's available here into equity and promise and lifestyle and dream and future possibilities? All of this that's possible now with human beings, how do you take all this stuff and turn it into these equities and values? Well, it starts with philosophy. What is the seed? What is the soil? What is the sunshine? What is the rain? Is it possible to take some of each of all the stuff that's available and turn it into food and turn it into value and turn it into nourishment, turn it into something spectacular and unique that no other life form can do? And the answer is yes. But you cannot deal with all this stuff and what to do with it unless you start refining your philosophy. Think, use your mind, come up with ideas, and strengthen your philosophy. So the seed and the soil and the rain and the sunshine, this is called, you know, the economy, and the banks, and the money, and the schools, and, uh, everything that's available out there. Processing information, what to do with all that and turn it into equity and value. That is the major challenge of life, my personal opinion. So each person's personal philosophy is now going to determine what you're going to do with seed and soil and sunshine and rain, miracle, the change of seasons. That's it. My personal opinion, each person's personal philosophy is like the set of the sail. That's what this seminar is for today. Help you to trim a better sail. You don't need a better economy. You don't need better seed and soil. In fact, when it comes to seed, soil, and rain, and sunshine, and seasons, and the miracle of life, that's all you got. Now, what if you blame this stuff? Then you're blaming all you got. If you blame the economy, and you blame the schools, and you blame the teachers, and you blame the sermons and the preachers, and, and you blame, you know, the marketplace, and you blame the company and company policy, what else is there? When some people get through with their blame list, there isn't nothing else. That's all there is. And if you blame, claim the only thing you've got to work with, I'm telling you, it's called mistake, colossal, and not understanding that that's all you've got to work with. And if this is all you've got to work with, then you don't change the seed, and you don't change the soil, and you don't change the rain, and you don't change the sunshine, you don't change the seasons, right? Guys says, "I'll take three springs, four summers, nine falls, no winters." No. You can't fool with this stuff. You got to take it like it comes. Then what do you change to make your life work well? You got to start with your philosophy. Guess what I had to do at age 25 in order to change my own future? I had to change my mind. I had to change my thinking. I had to change my philosophy. I was messed up on what was causing my problem. And once I got that straightened out, that all the stuff I blame the government and taxes and the marketplace and the economy and things cost too much, negative relatives, cynical neighbors, once I got rid of that and started going for where the real problem was, which was me, I'm telling you, my life exploded into change. My bank account changed immediately. My income changed immediately. My whole life took on a whole new look and color immediately. And the early results I got from making these philosophical changes tasted so good, I've never stopped the process from that day until this. And I'm telling you, with a little consideration of the refinement of your sail by setting a better sale, refining your philosophy, your whole life can start to change from today on. You don't have to wait till tomorrow. You don't have to wait till next month. You don't have to wait till spring. Don't have to wait till '93. You can start this whole process immediately. I recommend it. Now, some people do so little thinking, they don't even have their sail up. I mean, you can imagine where they're going to wind up at the end of this week, at the end of this month, at the end of this year. Now's the chance to change. Process all this information. So, number one is philosophy, okay? And we dealt with all that where we get ideas from, personal experience, from other people's experiences. I don't want to get into all those details because we covered that the last time I was here. But philosophy, that's number one.

My personal opinion, each person's personal philosophy. Here's the definition of success and failure. Just make this note. Here's failure: A few errors in judgment repeated every day. Now, you can automatically assume, "Mr. R, I say, I can understand that. A few errors in judgment repeated every day for six years." I'm with my father. I think I told the story the last time I was here. My father, 88 years old, he's never been ill, still hasn't retired. Not long ago, midnight, we're getting ready to go to bed. We've drilled a new well, got some extra water, got some more acres going, he's all excited. At midnight, we're getting ready to go to bed. My father's eating what he calls his midnight snack, a little bite to eat before you go to bed, don't have to go to bed hungry. And I'm watching him eat this midnight snack. Guess what? He had an apple, few graham crackers, and a glass of grapefruit juice. I said, "No wonder my father's so healthy." My mom taught us all those good health practices, taught me when I'm growing up, right? I'm an only child. I've never been ill. Past the big some time ago. My two daughters, 32, 33, never been ill. My grandkids, never been ill. I'm telling you, the legacy lingers on. As I watched my father have this midnight snack, suddenly occurred to me, "I know that's part of it. An apple." What a day that's gotten to Dallas-Fort Worth, right? An apple. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Good question for this intelligent audience: What if that's true? You say, "Well, Mr. R, if that's true, that would be easy to do." Then what's the problem? It's easy not to do it. It's easy not to adopt it as your own personal philosophy. Or the guy messed up to say, guy says, "A Hershey bar a day." Say, "No, no. You've been watching too much television. It is not Hershey bar. You got to be smarter in philosophy than to fall for the Hershey bar day when it's an apple a day. You got to be smarter than that." And if you make that kind of an error in judgment every day for six years, I'm telling you, it'll accumulate into disaster. Sometimes the first year you say, "Well, you know, I'm so healthy now, what difference is it going to make?" You got to be smarter than that. Just because disaster doesn't fall on us at the end of the first day doesn't mean disaster isn't coming. You got to be so smart that you look down the road and say, "Will the errors in my present judgment of philosophy, what's that going to cost me in one year? Six years? One month? Six months?" I'm telling you, the money cost, and the health cost, and the success cost is too gigantic if you'll look down the road a little ways and say, "Are there errors in my current judgment like an apple versus a Hershey bar? Is that just a good illustration of some of the rest of my errors in judgment?" If it is, that's where I found myself at age 25. I started working when I was 19. I met my teacher who helped turn my life around when I was 25. That's six years. At the end of the first six years of my economic life, I've got pennies in my pocket, I've got nothing in the bank, the creditors are calling saying, "Hey, you told us the check was in the mail." I'm embarrassed. I'm behind on my promises. I live in America. I'm 25-year-old American male. I got a nice family. Every reason to do well, and I'm messed up. Now, what's messed up? I used to think it was the community that was messed up, and the country was messed up, and the government was messed up. "If those Democrats ever get in the White House, that'll really mess things up. If the Republicans stay in power, that'll really mess things up." The economy was messed up. Interest rates are messed up. I thought all this stuff was messed up. Then I found out that's not what was messed up. I was criticizing the only thing I had to work with. What was really messed up was my own personal philosophy. My own errors in judgment in my own personal philosophy brought me in six years to pennies in my pocket, nothing in the bank, and trying to explain why I wasn't doing well, living in America, 25-year-old American male, got a family, every reason to do well. Now, once I understood this, here's the formula for failure: Errors in judgment, being lax about developing your own personal philosophy. I'm telling you, it's called accumulated disaster. It doesn't matter whether it's your health or your bank account. Guy's got an empty bank account, probably has high cholesterol. Why? Over the last six years, he never paid attention to either one. And it doesn't matter whether it's a dollar, whether it's your money, or whether it's your cholesterol count. All you got to do is commit the errors. And just because disaster doesn't fall on you at the end of the first day that you don't eat an apple, say, "Well, I didn't eat an apple today, and tonight I'm not ill." Well, you got to be brighter than that. Someday you got to leave first grade. The reason we make those first grade deaths so small so they won't fit at age 25. I mean, right? You don't belong here anymore. Come on now.

Let me give you the secret to success. The formula for failure: A few errors in judgment repeated every day for one month starts the weakness, starts the disaster process. You can imagine what happens in six years. Now, here's the formula for success: A few simple disciplines practiced every day, and you've started a whole new process called a whole new life. A few simple disciplines practiced every day. And if you decide today to go for the apple instead of the Hershey bar, I'm telling you, you have begun the process of turning your life around. And if you keep up that process, not only with your health habits, but with your money habits, and with your communication habits, with your sales habits, and management habits, and every other habit that you got, if you'll start that process, eliminate the errors and replace it with disciplines practiced, I'm telling you, you can start this process of life change immediately after today. You don't ever have to be the same again, only by choice. You don't have to walk out of here the same as you walked in today, only by choice. You can start a whole new process. And you say, "Well, Mr. Ron, is it that simple?" Yes, it's that simple. Where else would you start but with an apple? You don't have to start with something staggering. What if you should be walking around the block for your good health, and you don't? What'll that do in six years? I'm telling you, the word is disaster. You could, and you should, and you don't. Here's an even stronger word: won't. I mean, don't might mean you're careless. Won't probably means you're stubborn. And neither one's called disaster. Could, should, don't. I'm telling you, that's why at the end of five years, I, six years, I found myself with pennies in my pocket, nothing in the bank, creditors calling. Could, should, won't. Could, should, don't is called disaster.

Now, how do you change all that? The next six years, I got rich. The next six years, I became a millionaire by the time I'm 31. I'm a millionaire. How about that? You say, "Well, Mr. Ron, what happened?" Well, strangely enough, during that second six years of my economic life, the government was about the same. I'm telling you, taxes were about the same. My negative relatives were the same. I'm telling you, the economy was about the same, and prices were about the same, and, and everything else was about the same. Circumstances were about the same. Then how come I got rich? How come I totally changed my life? I was not the same. Somebody says, "Well, what did you go to work on to do all that?" I started with my philosophy. I started amending my errors by doing some better thinking, changing my mind, coming up with ideas that I didn't have before I met my teacher. And once that whole process started for me, I'm telling you, I changed my whole life within a six-year period. I was never the same. And I've kept up that process all these years. One of the reasons why I'm here is to continue my craft. I don't want the day to come someday somebody says, "You should."

Have you heard Jim Rone 10 years ago? When he was really terrific, guess what I want people to say: "I heard him 10 years ago." But you should hear him now. I'm telling you, the man works on his craft. I'm telling you, the man's done some extra reading. I'm telling you, the man doesn't miss a trick. I'm telling you, he's worked hard on himself. That's why he's able to deliver like he does.

The same thing can happen for you. As a teenager, it can happen to you. As a mother, as a father, as a business person, as a salesperson, running a business, doesn't matter, management, wherever you find yourself. This is the process called personal change. And what I say to start with is, start with your own philosophy. Your philosophy is going to determine whether or not you go for the disciplines or continue the errors. That's called potential disaster. And everybody has it within their power.

What was so, so happy for me to find out at age 25? Mr. Schuller said, "Mr. Rone, you don't have to change countries, but you do have to change philosophy." And if you'll change philosophy, not country, you can turn around your income. You can turn around your bank account. You can turn around your skills. You can become capable, powerful, sophisticated, healthy, influential, all the other equities that you could possibly want out of your life. Using the only stuff there is, and not trying to change any of this stuff. Appreciate all of this stuff with all of its ups and downs, with all of its mystery of why it works and sometimes it doesn't work. Don't challenge this. You don't have to ask for another planet. You don't have to ask for another country. Just ask for another book. Ask for another seminar. Ask for another idea. And you can start this whole process of personal life change now.

I could spend the whole day on philosophy because that's where it is. If I could get you intrigued with that enough to study it, enough to ponder it, to where you would pick up the commitment like I did and say, "Hey, as simple as an apple a day, as simple as a walk around the block. Why not start right there?" If you don't start there, where else are you going to start? Might as well start where it's easy and then go to the more complicated disciplines. Because if you can't handle the complicated, the simple disciplines, how can you handle the complicated ones?

Okay, key philosophy. Here's number two. I got to give these now very quickly because I got too much to cover here to linger too long. Number one, we're affected by philosophy. First major of the five major pieces. Number two is attitude. We're affected by how we feel. First, we're affected by what we know and the decision we and the decisions we make. Second, we're affected by attitude, how we feel. And I gave that quick list. Let me give it to you. It's how you feel about the past. Got to have a good attitude about the past. Use it as a school, not a club. Don't beat yourself to death with your past faults, failures, losses. Let the past be a school. Harsh school, maybe. What else is new? Let the past be a schoolmaster to teach you, not to threaten you, but to teach you.

Okay, next. It's how you feel about the future. Set your goals. We'll talk a little bit about that before we finish today. Goal setting. The promise of the future. Future is an awesome force to affect your life every day. Without a future well-designed, we take hesitant steps. And all you have to have is hesitant steps for six years, you'll be timid, driven into a corner, not boldly willing to go and take your portion, take your share.

Okay, next. It's how you feel about everybody else. Got to have a good attitude about everybody else because it takes everybody else to make a market. One person doesn't make a family. One person doesn't make a business. One person doesn't make a corporation. One person doesn't make a community. One person doesn't make a nation. It takes all of us to make a dynamic economy, a nation second to none. It takes all of us to make the churches, make the economy run. Takes all of us to make the possibilities, all the gifts that have flowed in here the last 200 years, unprecedented in 6 and a half thousand years of recorded history. There's been nothing like it. The ethnic streams that have flowed in here brought their gifts, brought their talent, brought their skills, brought their inventions, brought their work ethic. All of it mixed together. It's called America. Been nothing like it in 6 and a half thousand years. And to miss the value of it by some, you know, warped attitude about it, I'm telling you, you've missed it all. And if you have an appreciation for it all, you'll draw from it. And if you draw from all the gifts that have been blended together here for 200 years now for your value and benefit, think of what you can do for your days, for your business, for your conversation, for your equities. You can transform it to an incredible degree.

And here's the last one. It's how you feel about yourself. Understanding self-worth is the beginning of progress. Self-worth should be easy. If one of us can do it, all of us can do it. If anybody can think it, we all can think it. I can read, you can read. I can understand, you can understand. From where I came from, the few simple things I did and tried revolutionized my life in five years. There isn't anybody here that can't do it. Change from pennies to fortune. Change from nothing to something. Change from broke to rich. Anybody in this room can do it. If any of us can do it, we all can do it. That's the kind of value you should place on yourself. If Jim Rone can understand it, I can understand it. If he can read, I can read. If he can find it, I can find it. If he can change, I can change. If he can get it done, I can get it done. That's the attitude about yourself. So valuable.

Okay, now in transforming our lives, we don't start with attitude. We don't start with the inspiration here. We start with education. Somebody says, "Well, I expected you just come get motivated today." Well, that probably won't do it. Somebody says, "By now, we should be standing on the chairs, waving a flag, singing the old 'Grit Mar, get going here.'" No, that's not where you start. Life change does not start with inspiration. Life change starts with education. You got to be educated to the point of where you might have messed up. My teacher put it in blunt, simple language. He only went to the ninth grade in school, so he put it in simple language I could understand. He said, "Mr. Rone, after six years living in America, healthy American male, 25 years old, been working six years, one year of college, pennies in your pocket, nothing in the bank, behind on your promises." Schuller said, "I just got one simple explanation for that. You've messed up." Now, I could understand that kind of language. Substitute a Hershey bar for an apple means you've messed up. Should walk around the block, could walk around the block, won't walk around the block, you have messed up. And all you got to go is write down through the list. Don't need some teacher to come by and tell you. Be your own best teacher, saying, "Hey, let me make a list of some places I've messed up." Because if I let this down, let this down, that probably affects the rest. And the answer is, that's true. So we don't start with inspiration, we start with education.

Somebody says, "Well, just motivate this guy, he'll be all right." Just motivate him, get him turned on. Probably not. If a guy's an idiot, motivate him. Now you've got a motivated idiot. No, it won't be all right. So we start with education. What's the first education? If it isn't going well, and you live in America, you have messed up. You don't need to change countries. You say, "Well, the country's messed up." That's like cursing the soil and cursing the seed and the sunshine and the rain, which is all you got. Don't curse all you got. When you get your own planet, you can rearrange this whole deal. But this one, you got to take like it comes.

So number two was attitude. Here was number three, activity. This is the work part, the labor part, taking action. And the activity is the miracle-working piece. A miracle being something we don't quite understand how it works. Doesn't mean it doesn't work. It means we just don't quite understand how it works. Miracles work. God says, now, I'm an amateur on God, but here's my best analysis. God says, "If you'll plant the seed, I'll make the tree." Now, that's a good arrangement. Number one, gives God the tough end of the deal. What if you had to make the tree? That'd keep you up late night trying to figure out how do you make a tree? Say no. I'm telling you, the mystery and the miracle of this stuff has already been set up. God says, "I got the miracle going. I got the seasons going. I got some sunshine and some rain, and I'm God." But the way I've arranged that, I just need somebody to plant the seed. Not chant. In California, they're trying to chant to get this stuff done. Forget this California stuff. You don't have to rub a crystal and sleep under a pyramid. This stuff's too easy. Getting rich is too easy. Changing your life is too easy. Forget all that. Massive bombardment, affirmation. Forget all that. My opinion, ocean waves and seagulls. Come on. This stuff's too simple. Just simple, easy stuff. But if you neglect it, that's how it piles up year after year. But if you're willing to straighten it out, and here's one of the keys, it's called activity. It's called disciplines. Turning wisdom from your philosophy and inspiration, the strengthening of attitude and faith and courage, commitment, and all this stuff that comes from attitude. If you're willing to take these two qualities, philosophy and attitude, and invest it into activity, you can have a miracle. Anything short of that, no miracle. Wisdom doesn't perform a miracle. Attitude doesn't perform a miracle. The only thing that performs a miracle of increase called equity is called putting wisdom and attitude into discipline, into labor. And this labor now can perform a miracle. And here's the two parts to the labor: One, do what you can. Number two, do the best you can. Can't give you better advice than that.

Number one, do what you can. You just got to go home and make a list after today. And here's the question to ask as you make this personal list: What am I not doing that would be easy to do that could greatly change my health, my wealth? What am I not doing? I'm neglecting that would be easy to do? Just go home and answer that question personally. You don't have to put the answers on a public bulletin board. This is just all personal stuff, from the walk around the block to the apple, to what to do with your money, which we're going to cover today. What does a child do with a dollar? We're going to cover that today. Errors in judgment, disaster, few simple disciplines, wealth beyond imagination. And if you'll pick up the activity part, the miracle-working part, plant the seed part, take care of your part, the soil will take care of its part, and the seed will take care of its part, the seasons will take care of their part, the miracle will take care of its part. If you'll take care of your part called putting it into activity, action works miracles.

2,000 years ago, on April 13th, one of Jesus' disciples. Now again, I'm an amateur on the Bible. Best as I can remember it. One of Jesus' disciples said to Jesus, "It's time to pay our taxes, and we don't have any money." That's how come I know it was about April 13th. To this statement by his disciple, Jesus said, best as I can read the record, Jesus said, "No problem." Now, why could he say no problem? Well, word has it, word has it he was a miracle worker. Word has it, if you're a good student of history, word has it he was a miracle worker. If you handed a problem to a miracle worker, what would he be inclined to say? "No problem." You got to hang out with folks like that. I belong to a small group like that. We do business around the world. You hand these guys a problem, they say, "No problem." What? How many books would they read to solve it? Many as it takes. How early would they get up? Early as it takes. How much information would they get? Much as they needed. So it's what? "No problem." You got to hang out with folks like that. Jesus said, "This will be no problem." The tax thing. He said to his disciple, "It's simple. Go fishing." Wow. Now, that was easy for this particular disciple. His name was Peter, and Peter was a fisherman. How clever. How clever. But here's the real problem. If you should fish, and you could fish, and you don't fish, you got no miracle. You could change, you should change, you won't change. That's called accumulated disaster. In six years, you'll be explaining instead of celebrating, having some ragged list like I had, reasons for not doing well, pennies in my pocket, could, should, don't, disaster. And if you'll just start the process of change, could, should, and will, you can start this whole process. And if you will then put it into action, the miracle belongs to you.

Jesus said to his disciple, "It'll be simple. Go fishing." And the first fish you catch, look in his mouth. Peter said, "Okay." He was used to strange things happening in this relationship. Peter goes fishing, catches the first fish, looks in his mouth. Guess what's in the fish's mouth? Coins. Peter says, "Wow, coins." Starts counting the value of these coins. And when he adds it up, guess how much it added up to? Exactly enough money to pay his taxes and Jesus' taxes, which gives you Jesus' position on taxes. Okay. Now, we call that what? A miracle. Only because we don't quite understand how it works. It doesn't mean it doesn't work. It simply means we don't quite understand how it works. But here's how you get a miracle going for your life. Number one, do what you can. Get a list of the stuff you could do and you haven't done. Postpone and start cleaning that up. You can't start at a better place for personal change that'll affect your bank account, affect your future, affect your income, affect everything. You can't start a better life change process than cleaning up what you should be doing. The man says, "Well, my mother lives down in Florida. Should have written her six months ago. I just can't seem to get that letter written." I'm asking you to get that letter written. Clean that up. And don't walk like other people walk. Don't postpone like other people postpone. You say, "Well, is it as simple as writing a letter?" And the answer is, yes. Where else would you start for life change, personal change? You don't need a pink package to fall out of the sky. You don't need massive bombardment, preconscious, subconscious practice, channeling, find a 2,000-year-old guru. I mean, you don't need any of that stuff. Pass on all that. Kids are afraid of that stuff. Too much of it, you'll be out on a limb with Shirley. I mean, don't pass on all that stuff. The stuff's too easy. The stuff's too simple. It's called take action. Number one, on neglect, on errors in discipline. Number two, start setting up some disciplines. And if you'll do that, you'll perform a miracle.

Now, here's the second part of the miracle. Number one is do what you can. Here's number two, do the best you can. If that's not your philosophy, I would ask you to amend it. Let me give you the best of ancient script. Here's what it says: "Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might. Do it with all your strength and do it with all your power." What a good philosophy. That kind of philosophy revolutionized your life. If you haven't picked it up lately, guy slips in late, company doesn't seem to mind. Slips out early. First one in the parking lot, heading for happy hour. Stretches his break, comes early for lunch, late back from lunch. Company doesn't seem to notice. Guy says, "Best as I can calculate, I'm putting in about a half a day's work and I'm collecting a full day's pay." And the guy says, "I got it made." Little does he know, the seeds of his own disaster are already being sown by the weakness of his own personal philosophy. It's not the economy that's going to determine your next six years. It's your philosophy about labor and about activity and about miracle and soil and seed and sunshine and rain and the economy and the banks and the money and the companies and the schools and what's going on. It's your philosophy and your attitude and then your ability to take action. All of that we call the process of life change, miracle working. Number one, do what you can. Number two, do the best you can.

Here was number four, results. Results. Every once in a while, you got to take a measure, see how you're doing with these three pieces: philosophy, attitude, activity. Now we take a measure called results. What is the results at the end of the day? The results at the end of the week? You can't let too much time go by without checking. When time goes by, six years I've been out there working. When I met my teacher, Mr. Schuller, Schuller said, "Well, Mr. Rone, let's just go through a little summary here. You said in the last six years, how much money have you saved and invested? Let's go through a little tab list here. How much money have you saved and invested the last six years?" I said, "What? Zero." He said, "You have messed up." You remember these notes? I like that. "You messed up." He said, "Who sold you on that plan?" I thought, "My gosh, the man's right. I'm a nice guy. I bought the wrong plan." What if you were 50 and broke? Didn't need to change countries. Bought the wrong plan. What a sad scenario that would be. But Schuller said, "These questions, let's go through some results." He said, "How many books have you read in the last 90 days?" I said, "What? Zero." Wisdom of the world available. Change your life, change your future. Wisdom of the world available. Develop any skill you want. Earn the kind of income you want. Have all the treasures you want, equities you want, relationship with your family that you want, everything that you want available. And the wisdom of the world to help you get it. Haven't read any books in the last 90 days. My teacher said, "Mr. Rone, you have messed up." I'm telling you, you've got the deal.

Schuller said, "Mr. Rone, in the last six months, how many classes have you taken to improve your skills or to develop new skills? Go for the American dream, become rich and powerful and sophisticated and healthy and influential." How many classes have you taken the last six months? I said, "How many? Zero." He said, "You have messed up." Said, "You don't need to unmess the country. You don't need to straighten out the perplexed. You don't need to straighten out any of this stuff. All you've got to do is look within and let results teach you a great deal about your own activity, your own attitude, and your own philosophy." I went through that process. Take this phrase home: Results is the name of the game. What other game is there? Results. Here's all life asks us to do: Make measurable progress in reasonable time. Just take home that little phrase. Good phrase. We're asked in life simply to make measurable progress in reasonable time. We demand it of our children. How many years do you want your child to spend in fourth grade? Approximately about one. If it looks like they're not going to make it, we pour on the pressure called legitimate pressure. Lack of results, peer pressure, family pressure, school pressure, community pressure, every other kind of pressure we can bring to bear. Why you can't stay more than one year in fourth grade? As parents, you'd have to leave the community. You say, "Well, what if they're nice kids? Wouldn't you give them three or four years?" The answer is no. You got to make better progress than that. So you got to check fairly often. Some things you got to check every day. So some things you got to check at least by the end of the week. Salesman joins this little sales company, supposed to make 10 calls. First week. Wouldn't it be legitimate to call him in on Friday and say, "John, what? How many calls?" I mean, this stuff is simple. John says, "Well..." Say, John, "Well, won't fit in this little box here." Well, now, John starts with the story. You say, "John, I made this little box so small, so a story won't fit. I don't need a story. I need what? A number." A number. What will a number tell me? Everything. John supposed to make 10 calls. What if he made 20? You say, "Wow, wow, we got somebody." What if he only made one call? Whoa. Will that tell us something about John's philosophy? And the answer is yes. Will it tell us something about his attitude? Of course. Will it tell us something about his discipline? Of course. And if he wants a lesson in life change, all he has to do is be willing to face the numbers and come up with the results that will teach you to either celebrate if you got good results, or fix whatever needs to be fixed in your philosophy, attitude, activity, called disciplines. You don't need to go anywhere else.

I do believe in affirmations. They are valuable as long as you affirm the truth. Because it says in ancient scripts, "The truth will set you free." Free to do what? Amend your errors and pick up new disciplines. That's what the truth is for. To help us amend our errors and pick up the disciplines for life change. That's what the truth is for. So I do believe in affirming the truth. If you're broke, best thing to affirm is, "I am broke." You put that up on the refrigerator where you can see it every day. I mean, that's how you do that. Now, if you need a little additional affirmation, you just put up there, "I'm 40 and broke." I mean, you know, that ought to do it. And if you need just a little more, put up there, "I live in America and I'm 40 and broke." That's enough to turn your life around. Says, "Hey, something is wrong somewhere. I have messed up." And I'm telling you, if you'll start with that, it's called the process of life change. And it doesn't matter how small the process is to start. One discipline starts it, and then one discipline feeds another, feeds another. And the first thing you know, you've got this whole cycle in an upward positive motion. And it's called life change. It's called income change. It's called health change. Relationship with your family change. Equities unprecedented that you can have in numbers that will stagger the imagination. If you do not curse what's available and start amending what's possible to get, get the results that you want. I don't think I can put it in any better language. That's it. Kids can do it. Teenagers can do it. Parents can do it. Managers can do it. Right. Government officials can do it. Anybody can do it. Anybody can do this stuff called personal change. Wow. Results is the name of the game. Success is a numbers game. Good note to make. Success is a numbers game. You got to go for the numbers. You got to understand what the numbers are. How many pounds overweight should you be at age 50? Approximate. John says, "I got big bones." We'll give you 10 pounds. 10 pounds for big bones. Otherwise, come on, John. 20 pounds. 25 pounds. Shouldn't we turn on the caution light at work, working at home, blinking caution lights? And say, "What's that caution light?" So John's up about 20, 25 pounds. We got the blinking light going at home, got it going here at work to remind him. What wrong numbers? Okay, 35, 40 pounds. Red light blinking at home. Somebody say, "What's that blinking red light?" Say, "John's up about 40 pounds." 50 pounds. We got the siren. Ah, what's that siren at home and at work? John's up about 50 pounds. Cholesterol almost out of control. Come on. Success is a numbers game. I'm asking you to be mature enough to start checking your own numbers. How many books have you read in the last 90 days? Transform your life. Become cultured, powerful, sophisticated, healthy, influential. All the rest of the stuff you want. How many books? How many classes? How committed are you to taking what's available and turning it into equities? Unprecedented since we live in a country that there's been no such country in the last 6 and a half thousand years. If you'll pick up that process, ladies and gentlemen, I'm telling you, it's called life change of the best order.

Now, here's the last one. Number five is called lifestyle. Lifestyle is simply learning how to live well. The last of the five major pieces. Here's the ultimate challenge of life. I've worked on this, you cannot believe how hard, since age 25. And that is after applying better philosophy, attitude, and and activity, and picking now up results. What are results for? Here's my ultimate challenge on results: to fashion, good word to jot down, fashion, for yourself, lifestyle, or what we call the good life. That's the ultimate challenge. To take your results, take your money, take your results, take the return, take the equities you've gathered, and now fashion for yourself a good life, like weaving a tapestry. And Mr. Schuller gave me all kinds of examples on lifestyle. He gave me two phrases that helped change my life. In case you have to leave early, let me give you these two phrases. It'll be worth the price of coming and being here today. Just take these two phrases home in case you have to leave early. Here's number one. Schuller said, "Mr. Rone, if you wish to be wealthy, study wealth." When he said that, I said, "My gosh, I don't know anybody that studies wealth. Where am I going to learn it?" He said, "Never mind, Mr. Rone. Now that you've met me, if you'll be with me for a while," he said, "and if you'll commit yourself," he said, "I will teach you." And he taught me. He taught me the books. He taught me the stuff. Changed my life. By the time I was 31, I was a millionaire. The man taught me well. If you wish to be wealthy, study wealth. If you were to show me your present economic plan in a personal conversation between you and me, you say, "Mr. Rone, let me disclose for you my current economic financial plan for the future." Would I get so excited I'd say, "Hey, I'm going to go across the country and lecture on your plan"? And if the answer is no, Mr. Rone, you probably wouldn't want to go across the country and lecture on my plan. Here's my question to you: Why not? Why wouldn't you have a superior, powerful financial plan that's taking you to the places you want to go? I'm asking you, if you find yourself caught like I was at age 25, make the personal commitment today and say, "I'm going to study and I'm going to change." And five years from now, nobody's going to be able to say, "How come you don't have a superior plan living in a superior country with superior opportunities?" Nobody's going to be able to say that five years from now of me. If you'll make that commitment, I'm telling you, this will be one of the most exciting days of your life. Not because of my seminar, it'll be one of the most exciting days of your life because of your commitment to this simple little process I've outlined for you here.

Here was the second phrase. Mr. Schuller said, "Mr. Rone, if you wish to be happy, study happiness." I didn't know happiness was a study. My best hope for happiness at age 25 was to just go through the day with my fingers crossed, hoping somehow something could make me happy. Schuller said, "No, Mr. Rone. Happiness is not something you postpone. Happiness is not something off in the future. Happiness is something you design." You got to get the word. Happiness is something you design. Happiness is a study. Happiness is a practice. Happiness is an art. It's not an accident. It's an art. And anybody that wants to can study, practice the art of happy living. Happiness is like culture. Money doesn't make you cultured, but culture is within the grasp of all of us. How much is a book on sophistication in the marketplace? $4,000? No, $40. I'm telling you, in America, everything's available. Everything's within reach. All you have to be is committed to it and make it a study. Culture is a study. Sophistication is a study. It's not an amount. It's not an account. It's a study. Money doesn't make you sophisticated. And cultured. I know a guy that's rich, he's a clown. The guy's a clown. Eats with his elbow in his soup. I mean, he's just a clown. Nothing much more pitiful than a rich clown. I mean, you know, it's a sad thing to see. Money doesn't make you sophisticated. Only study and practice makes you sophisticated. At only study and practice makes you cultured. And only study and practice makes you happy. Study and practice makes you rich. Key phrase: Don't be lazy in learning one, how to do well. Next, how to live well. Don't be lazy in learning and practicing the art of economics, practicing the art of productivity, and practicing the art of lifestyle.

Schuller taught me in such simple terms. Schuller said, "Mr. Rone, if you're getting your shoe shine, shoe shine boy's done an exceptional job, you look down, you got one of the world's all-time great shines, and you pay him. Now you got a little change in your hand. Question pops in your mind: Should I give him one quarter or two quarters as a tip from a neat shine?" Here's what Schuller said: "If two amounts pop in your mind, always go for the higher amount and become the higher thinking person." That helped change my life. Here's what he said: "Become a two-quarter person." Now, you can tell that was a long time ago when a quarter was a good tip. Now it takes dollars. But just substitute 1992 dollars for quarters. Schuller said, "Hey, if you, you know, are thinking one quarter, two quarters, and you say, 'Well, no, I'll just give him one quarter.' He said, 'That'll affect you the rest of the day. The rest of the day you look down, see this great shine, you'll say, I got to be really cheap. One lousy quarter tip from a shine.'" But he said, "If you'll go for the two quarters," Schuller said, "you can't believe the extra happiness you can buy for just an extra quarter." That's called studying and practicing the art of lifestyle, which means living well. Money doesn't make you happy. Father wads up a $20 bill, throws it at his son, and says, "If you need the darn stuff, then take it. Just get out of my face." How sad. A father with money and no joy. He studied economics, but he never studied joy. I'm asking you to turn that around. Turn that all around.

I did a seminar one time, St. Louis, Missouri. When I finished a seminar like this, a man walked up and said, "Mr. Rone, you've really gotten to me. Said, 'I'm going to change my philosophy. I'm going to change my attitude. I'm going to change my life. I'm going to change everything.'" Everything. He said, "You've touched me today." And he said, "You'll hear about me. You'll hear my story someday." I said, "Okay." Right. A lot of people right say things. Sure enough, a few months later, I come back to St. Louis, did another seminar. When I finished my seminar, I saw this man come walking up. I didn't remember his name, but he said, "I'm sure you'll remember me as the man who said, 'I'm going to go make some changes. You've touched me today.'" I said, "I do remember you." He said, "I'm telling you, things are already happening for me. I cannot believe in just a matter of months." He said, "One of the things I decided to change was my relationship with my family." He said, "My wife and I have two lovely teenage daughters. Parents couldn't ask for any more beautiful, lovely daughters." And he said, "I'm the only one that's given them trouble. Said these daughters of ours have never given us any trouble." He said, "I've usually been the one all these years, given all the trouble and all the stat." He said, "My daughters love to go to the rock concerts, and I'm always giving them trouble. They have to beg me for the money. Say, 'I don't want you to go. You stay out too late. Music's too loud. You're going to ruin your hearing. You won't be able to hear the rest of your life.'" And he said, "I just get on their case." And he said, "They keep begging, keep begging. Finally, when they beg long enough, I say, 'All right, here's the money. If you have to go that bad, just go.'" Said, "That's how I've been up until now." But he said, "After I left your seminar, I decided to change all that." Called lifestyle, living well. He said, "You won't believe it. Not long ago, I picked up the newspaper and I saw an advertisement, and I knew my two daughters, that was one of their favorite performers was coming to town." He said, "Guess what I did?" He said, "I went down and bought the tickets myself and brought them home, put them in an envelope." And when I saw my daughters later that day, he said, "I handed them this envelope and I said to my two lovely daughters, 'You may not believe it, but inside this envelope are two tickets for the upcoming concert.'" They could not believe. And he also added, "You'll be happy to know, begging days are over now." They cannot. He said, "Now, don't open the envelope till you get to the concert." They said, "Okay." So they go to the concert. Come concert time, open up the envelope, hand the tickets to the usher. He says, "Follow me." And he starts down front. The girls say, "Hey, hold it, hold it. Something must be wrong." He takes another look. Says, "No, nothing's wrong. Follow me." 10th row center. Now they cannot leave 10th row center. The only tickets they were able ever to beg for was right third balcony. He said, "I stayed up a little late that night. Sure enough, a little after midnight, my two come bursting through the front door. One of them lands in my lap, the other one's got her arms around my neck. They're both saying, 'You got to be one of the all-time world's great fathers.'" He said, "Mr. Rone, you're right. I can't believe. Same money, different father." He said, "I've started making the changes, and I decided to start with my teenagers, my girls." He said, "What a difference it's making in my life." And I'm telling you, you can do that with your lifestyle. You can do it with your sales career. You can do it with your management career. You can do it with any part of your life. If you're looking for equities unmatched, do not curse the only thing you have. Don't complain about the only you have, which is seed and soil, sunshine, rain, miracle, and seasons. But start changing and processing and evaluating things like recovering today. And this process of change will take off for you. You will not believe what can happen in such a short period.

Next subject, personal development. Some of the things Mr. Schuller taught me starting at age 25. Some things came quickly, some things came easily. Setting goals, that was easy. We're going to talk about that, uh, later on. But this one, I had to struggle with. Personal development. It was hard for me to give up my old blame list. It was so comfortable blaming the government and blaming my negative relatives and the company, company policy, unions, wage scale, economy, interest rates, prices, and circumstances, and all that. That was difficult for me to give up. That was quite a transition for me to make. And blaming myself. But Mr. Schuller started out with something very, very important. Let me give that to you. He said, "It's not what happens that determines the major part of your future. It's not what happens. What happens happens to us all." He said, "The key is what you do about it. It's not what happens, it's what you do about it." And he said, "If you will start that process of change, do something different the next 90 days than you did the last 90 days, like picking up the books to read, do something different, like the new health disciplines, relationship with your family, whatever it is, doesn't matter how small it is. If you'll start doing different things with the same circumstances, since we cannot change the circumstances, but we can change ourselves, we can change what we do." And then he gave me another secret to success when he said, "What you have at the moment, Mr. Rone, you've attracted by the person you've become. What you have at the moment, you've attracted by the person you've become." Few little simple principles here. Once you understand these, it starts to explain so much. Now, sometimes it's a little tough to take. Blaming yourself instead of the marketplace. Taking responsibility instead of putting it off on someone else. Those that transition, sometimes it's a challenging mission. And this one was a little tough for me. He said, "Mr. Rone, you've got pennies in your pocket, you've got nothing in the bank, the creditors are calling, you're behind on your promises." He says, "Here's how that occurs. You've attracted up until now, you've attracted the things to you because of the person you've become." Now, I said, "Well, how can I change all that?" He said, "Very simple. If you will change, everything will change for you. You don't have to change what's outside. All you've got to change is what's inside." To have more, you simply have to become more. And then he said, "Don't wish it was easier. Wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems. Wish for more skills." Start working on yourself, making these personal changes, and he said, "It'll all change for you." So let's talk a little bit about personal development, that extraordinary adventure I undertook starting at age 25, and I've never ceased that adventure. I'm still going for it in the '90s. I want to get better and better. I want my craft to get better, my business operations to get better, the things I do to get better. Because once I picked up this simple formula, I'm telling you, it's easy to figure out where the problem is if you go to work on it.

Now let's talk about personal development. And in helping kids understand personal development, I always start with money. Now, money is not the only place to start. Money certainly isn't the only value. But we've all got to start somewhere. And money is something you can count, right? Kids are interested in money. Okay. A lot of things are a little tougher to measure, but economics is pretty easy, right? Because you can count. Okay. Somebody says, "How are you doing?" Say, "I don't know. Let's count." Now, this is not the only count. I understand that there's a lot of other things to count. But to see if there may be some errors in your judgment and lack of disciplines in your life, we might as well start with money, 'cause it's so easy to count. So let's just start there and see whether or not maybe we have messed up. Okay. So here's how I explain it to kids. We get paid for bringing value to the marketplace. Key to understanding economics. We get paid for bringing value to the marketplace. Marketplace is also described as reality. Reality, the marketplace. Now, it takes time. It takes time to bring value to the marketplace. But we don't get paid for time. It's very important for kids to understand, as well as adults. We don't get paid for time. Mistakenly, the man says, "I'm making about $20 for an hour." Not true. Not true. If that was true, you could just stay home, have them send your money. No, it's not true. You don't get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you put in the time. So we don't get paid for time. We get paid for value. Now, since that's true, here's one of the key questions of the afternoon: Is it possible to become twice as valuable and make twice as much money in the same time? Is it possible to become three times as valuable as you now are and make three times as much money in the same time? Is that possible? Of course. If you want to really emphasize something, that's a good phrase to. Of course. Of course. Okay. Now, all you have to do to earn more money in the same time is simply become more valuable. America is unique. It's a ladder to climb. Starts down here. What about $4 an hour? Big argument last year in Congress about the starting place. Should be five. Should be five. Should be five. Well, no, it doesn't need to be five. Why not start with four? It's a ladder, right? This is not a bed. This is a ladder. This is a ladder. To climb. Starts at $4. Now, somebody said, "Well, should be five. Should be five." Well, maybe if you're going to stay at the bottom for the rest of your life, it probably should be five. But that's kind of a pitiful way to live. Start and not grow. Start and not change. Start and not become more valuable. Hey, the whole scenario of life is to start, number one, and what? Become more valuable. Number two. So America's a ladder to climb. Starts at $4 an hour. And the more valuable you become, you just keep moving up the ladder. Top income last year, what? $52 million. Guy that runs Disney. Would a company pay somebody for one year's work $52 million? And the answer is, of course. This is one of those "of course" places. Of course. If you help a company make a billion dollars, would they pay you $52 million? The answer is, of course. It's chicken feed. I mean, it's not much money. Now, why that much money? Because he has become so valuable. Now, why would we pay somebody only $4 an hour? They're not very valuable to the marketplace. Now, we got to make that distinction. To the marketplace, might be a valuable brother, a valuable member of the community, valuable member of the church, valuable member in the sight of God, to the human family, of course, those kind of values. But to the marketplace, which is called what? Reality. Reality is, if you're not very valuable, you don't get much money. Those are called the facts. I mean, that's how that is. Well, then, how do you get more money? Simple answer. Somebody says, "Well, I'll go on strike for more." Well, here's a major problem with that. Here's a major problem with that. You can't get rich by demand. Somebody says, "Well, I'm waiting for a raise." I'm telling you, it's easier to climb than to wait for a raise. Why not just become more valuable rather than wait? I'm telling you, that's the key to all good things, becoming more valuable. Why would we pay somebody $400 an hour? They've become more valuable to the marketplace. See how this works? I'm telling you, this stuff is so easy. This is America. This is a ladder. How far is it from four to five? I'm telling you, it's not far. $4 to $5 an hour. If you work for McDonald's, haul out the trash, they'll pay you $5 an hour. If you whistle while you haul out the trash, they'll pay you $5 an hour. I'm telling you, you'll get an extra dollar just for a good attitude. Yay, McDonald's. Wear the hat. Incredible. $5. And then you just keep becoming more valuable, more valuable, more valuable. I got a telephone call five years ago. Company said, "We're ready to expand internationally. We need some help." I was sort of semi-retired, right? Looking for the next exotic beach. They said, "No, no, Mr. Rone, we got a project for you. Right? Going to expand internationally. We can use your help. Next little while, we'll add some millions to your fortune. Make it worth your while." I said, "Okay." I thought later, "Isn't that interesting that they called me?" My second thought was, "Of course they'd call me. Who else would they call?" I mean, you know, I can get the job done. Now, how come? How come I got a telephone call worth millions? I had become valuable. Valuable. Now, I'm a farm boy from Idaho. I was raised in obscurity. One year of college. I thought I was thoroughly educated. Made all kinds of mistakes, galore. At age 25, the creditors are calling me, saying, "Hey, you told us the check was in the mail." I got pennies in my pocket, I got nothing in the bank, I'm behind on my promises. How come I get a telephone call five years ago and it's worth millions? I changed. I changed. I turned my life around. Is it possible to become worth millions, speaking economically? Now, there's a

A lot of values to become, but let's just talk economics. Is it possible to become that valuable? The answer is, of course, of course. Now, let me give you the secret. Show said, "Here's the secret, Mr. Ran. Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job." Once I got that, it turned my life around. "Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job," he said. "If you work hard on your job, you'll make a living. If you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune."

Wow. If you would have known me at age 25, you would have said, "Jim Rohn's a hard worker." If you'd have known me, you'd have said that. "I'm the guy. I don't mind coming a little bit early, staying a little bit late. I don't mind that." You'd have said, "Well, Jim Rohn's a hard worker." You say, "Well, how come he's got pennies in his pocket and nothing in the bank and behind on these promises?" Well, I was a hard worker, but I was working hard on my job, not on myself.

I'm telling you, if you'll learn that simple little principle and start the process today, latest tomorrow, give you tonight to think it over, and start this whole process of personal development, work on yourself, make yourself more valuable to the marketplace. I'm telling you, you can so dynamically change your income. And economics is the least of the values that you can start earning in terms of equity, if you'll start working harder on yourself than you do on your job. Work hard on yourself and develop the skills. Work hard on yourself and develop the graces, all of the stuff necessary to become more valuable to the marketplace. I'm telling you, your whole life can explode into change. Promotions? No problem. Becoming more valuable to the company? I'm telling you, no problem. Money? No problem. Economics? No problem. Future? No problem.

If you just go to work on the right thing. Not get things out there to change. Don't try to change the seed. Don't change the soil. Don't change the sunshine. Don't change the rain. Don't change the mix of seasons. Let the miracle of everything that's available work for you. And start working on the inside. Work on your philosophy. Work on your attitude. Work on your personality. Work on your language. Work on the gift of communication. Work on all of your abilities. And if you'll start making those personal changes, I'm telling you, everything will change for you.

Now, let me give you another scenario on personal development. It's called the four major lessons in life to learn. Before we get to the four major lessons in life to learn, let me give you a key phrase for your notes. Here it is: Life and business is like the seasons. Life and business is like the seasons. Frank Sinatra sings, "Life is Like The Seasons."

Now, here's one of the key phrases that changed my life starting at age 25. You can see this whole scenario. Personal development for me began. I've never been the same since. Here's the next key phrase: You cannot change the seasons, but you can change yourself. You can't change the seasons, but you can change yourself. My best hope, right when I'm 25 years old, my best hope was to go through the day with my fingers crossed, saying, "I sure hope things will change. I sure hope things will change." It seemed to be my only way for my life to get better if things would change. Here's what I discovered: It isn't going to change. It isn't going to change.

I did a seminar one time for Standard Oil executives in management in Honolulu, now known as Chevron. And we're talking economics one day around the conference table. And one of them said to me, "Mr. Ran, you know some fairly important people around the world. You have a chance to travel internationally. Can you tell us what you think the '80s are going to be like?" Now, you can tell how far back this goes. "What do you think the '80s are going to be like?" And I thought for a moment and I said, "Gentlemen, I do know the right people, and I do have some experience. I think I can tell you." So they all leaned in a little closer. And I said, "Gentlemen, based on the people I know and based on the best of my own experience, I think in the '80s, it's going to be about like it's always been. Aren't you glad you came today?" I mean, that's inside stuff. I don't just spread that around everywhere. It's going to be about like it's always been. It isn't going to change. To hope that it'll change, it's called whistling in the wind, being so naive, hoping for something that isn't going to occur.

I can give you the shortest history lesson that you can imagine in one sentence. What describes human history on the spinning planet, the last 6 and a half thousand years? Let me describe it for you in one sentence. Here's human history in one sentence: Opportunity mixed with difficulty. That's about as simple as you can put it. And opportunity mixed with difficulty isn't going to change. The man says, "Well, if it isn't going to change for the future, if it isn't going to change in the '90s, how will my life ever change?" Answer: When you change. And if you will change, everything will change for you. Your bank account will change. Your income will change. Your future will change. The ability to acquire your dreams will change. It'll all change if you will change.

And now, let's go through the scenario of the seasons. Life in business is like the seasons. Let's cover them. Here's number one major lesson in life to learn: Learn how to handle the winters. You say, "Well, Mr. Ran, a lot of this stuff is fairly obvious." That's true. Just need somebody like me just to come along and remind us. This is what this is called today, a reminding session. I got no new truth for you to discover. This is all old stuff. We just need to hear it again. Somebody get on our case a little bit, right? We all need that.

Here's number one lesson: Learn how to handle the winters. That's obvious. The winters come right after falls. And pray tell, how often? Every year. According to written history for the last 6 and a half thousand. To cross your fingers and say, "I hope, I hope, I hope it doesn't come." I'm telling you, we call that naive.

Now, there's all kinds of winters, not just the winter of the season, but there's all kinds of winters. Winter time, the downtime, the discouraging time. One writer called it "the winter of discontent." The winter when you can't figure it out. The winter when it all goes wrong. Economic winters, social winters, political winters, and personal winters, when your heart is smashed in a thousand pieces. The nights are unusually long. It's called winter time. Barbara Streisand sings, "It used to be so natural to talk about forever, but used to bees don't count anymore. They just lay on the floor till we sweep them away. You don't sing me love songs. You don't say you need me, and you don't bring me flowers anymore." A song of winter. But hey, we're acquainted with all those winter scenarios. We've been through them all.

Now, the question is, what do you do about the winters? Well, you can't get rid of January by tearing it off the calendar. But here's what you can do with the upcoming winters of your life, the long ones, the short ones, the easy ones, the more difficult ones. Here's what you can do: Get wiser, and stronger, and better. Just make a list of that trio of good words: wiser, stronger, and better to challenge for yourself the upcoming winters of your life. Don't you think you could read more? Pick up the scenario, pick up the books, pick up the cassettes. So I put some stuff on cassettes so you can listen to it. Put it in books you can read it. Now putting it on video so you can see it. I'm telling you, anybody that wants to can get wiser.

Next is stronger. Anybody can get stronger if you're willing to do the push-ups. You can get stronger if you're willing to put yourself through the paces. You can get stronger. Can you develop stronger skills? And the answer is yes. Start practicing, practicing, practicing, and you can get stronger. Can you get stronger in handling life situations? Of course, but you got to go to work on yourself. You can't blame out there, wishing it was easier, wish you were stronger.

And here's the last one: Get better. Anybody can get better. Language, we can all get better. I've been lecturing now for 33 years, and I'm telling you, today versus 33 years ago, I'm better. First time I gave a talk, I stood up, my mind sat back down. I mean, you know, I've been through that whole deal. Open my mouth, nothing came out for a while. My knees are banging together, the sweat's pouring off my face, I'm shaking like a leaf. It's called terror, in case you haven't tried it. Was first attempts. But I'm telling you, I got through it, and I did it again, and I got through it, and I did it again, and I got through it. And now, of course, I can lecture for a few hours in one day. Anybody can get better. Develop the skills. Okay. Handle the upcoming winters. Don't wish away the winters. That's called naive. Wish for the skills. Wish for the strength. Wish for the wisdom.

Here's the second major lesson in life to learn: Learn how to take advantage of the spring. Uniquely enough, spring follows winter. And pray tell, how often? Six and a half thousand times. I mean, those are good odds. I gamble on it one more time. I mean, those are good odds. Every time. You can't beat those odds. Spring is called opportunity. Another day is called opportunity. Days follow nights, how about that? And how often? Every day.

But now, here's what we must learn to do with opportunity. Underline two strategic words in that sentence: take advantage. Just because spring comes, there's no sign you're going to look good in the fall. You got to take advantage of it. You got to do something with it. Read every book you can on what to do with your springs, what to do with your opportunities, what to do with your days, what to do with your chances. Don't miss the educational process. Don't miss the process of learning to understand. Opportunity keeps coming, but the key is is taking advantage. Taking advantage. Everybody in this room's got to learn to do one of two things: plant in the spring or beg in the fall. And it doesn't mean you can't become a sophisticated beggar, but you don't need the reputation. Learn to plant in the spring. Take advantage.

And there's an urgency here on springtime because there's just a few springs, a handful of springs offered to each of us. So take advantage swiftly and quickly. Don't just let the time pass. The Beatles wrote, "Life is very short." And for John Lennon, it was extra short. For Michael Landon, it was extra short. But life is short. At the longest, it's short. So don't just let the springs pass, pass, pass. Take advantage. Seize the day. Seize the moment. Seize the opportunity. That's the key. Springtime. Life is fragile. Life is brief. Elton John sings, "She lived her life like a candle in the wind." It's fragile. It's brief. Whatever you're going to do, you got to get at it. Don't just let it pass away.

Here's major lesson number three: In the summer, learn how to nourish and protect. We got two challenges in the summer in the personal development part of our life. And that is, become capable and powerful enough in the summer, and wise enough in the summer to nourish what's good and defend yourself against what's bad. Nourish and defend. The summertime is an interesting time. It holds the possibility of the promise of harvest time, but it also has the possibility of the threat. Sure enough, as soon as you planted your garden, the busy bugs and the noxious weeds are out to take it. And let me give you another word of advice: They will take it unless you prevent it.

Summertime is an interesting time. Best as I can describe summertime: You got to nourish your values like a mother. Nourish like a mother. Go after the threat to the values you've got like a father. Deal with the weeds. Kill the weeds. Nourish the garden and kill the weeds. That's called summertime. What a challenging time. Give life like a mother. Take life like a father. Summertime. You got to deal with the negative as well as the positive. Summertime is a unique, complex mix of positive and negative, opportunity and threat. What a scenario of life itself. Opportunity and threat to the opportunity. And you got to deal with both. You got to think positive, and you got to think negative. You got to handle what's ever out to threaten you. You got to learn to threaten it back. Summertime, interesting time. Nourish like a mother, defend like a father. You got to be like your bloodstream in the summer. Red corpuscles to what? Nourish. White corpuscles to what? Fight. You got to both nourish and fight. You got to nourish and be vigilant. Okay. White corpuscles think negative. You can't just think positive. We call you naive. Somebody says, "Well, I've been taught to be all positive." You'd be some kind of freak. Can't be all positive. Thank God for white corpuscles that think negative all day. Guess what white corpuscles are looking for all day? Problems. Infection. White corpuscles will say, "Just show me some infection, I'll kill it." Why? It's out to kill the body. It's out to kill our chances. It's out to kill our future. Whatever threatens us, we threaten. I'm asking you to take sword to your enemies. Whatever's out to threaten you, threaten your health. You got to threaten it back. Like white corpuscles, kill what's evil. Nourish what's good. Love like a mother. Hate like a father. Father says to whatever threatens his family, "Take two or three more steps toward this family, and threaten my family, you'll cease to exist." I'm father. I kill. Don't let the weeds take your garden, wreck your chances for a good harvest. Deal with your enemies in the summer. Called good and evil. The great struggle in life is called good and evil. Tyranny and liberty. Sickness and health. It's the way life is. Tyranny threatens liberty, takes over. Can't have that. If tyranny takes Kuwait, it'll take Saudi Arabia. If it takes Saudi Arabia, it'll take something else. Where are we going to stop tyranny? As soon as possible, lest it take the whole world value. So George Bush draws a line in the sand, consults with its allies, sends a half a million troops to Saudi Arabia, finally Desert Sword, Desert Storm, takes on Saddam Hussein, drives him out of Kuwait. Why? Because it has to be done. The great struggle between liberty and tyranny. The great struggle between evil and good. And you've got to treat your own life the same. Says Saddam Hussein, "You can't have Kuwait. Can't have Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, we're going to kick you out." Hires Chief White Corpuscle General Schwarzkopf. Takes care of the matter. I'm asking you, in the summer, nourish like a mother, threaten whatever threatens you like a father.

Now, you can also turn around the scenario. That's true. Love like a father, hate like a mother. Give life like a father, take life like a mother. You can turn the scenario around. The key is both love and hate. Single parents have got the greatest challenge. Love like a mother, hate like a father. Love like a father, hate like a mother. Nothing more dangerous than an angry mother. Beware of the female species of the animal. They call her black widow spider. Why? Because when she finishes, there is no male spider. I saw this article. I was flying on an airplane up in Canada. I saw this article in one of the airplane magazines. Showed a picture of this guy with his shirt off. These claw marks down his back, teeth marks in his neck. The guy almost got killed. He was out in the woods. Saw a mama bear with her little cub. Said, "Oh, this looks cute." Had his camera. Went flash, flash. Took a picture. Mama bear treats it unkindly. Promptly chases him. Caught him, almost killed him before they got to it. Beware of mama bear. So love like a father, hate like a mother. However you want to treat this scenario, it's very important. It's called summertime. Part of the personal development challenge is to be challenged to learn to nourish all of your values, from a garden to a family relationship, to a love affair, to a marriage, to a business. Anything that's valuable to you, called equity. You got to nourish it. You got to feed it. You got to take care of it. But you've also got to defend it. It's called the way things are. Key in the summer.

Now, here's number four, fourth major lesson in life to learn: In the fall, in the harvest, learn to reap in the harvest without complaint. Important part of personal development. Reap in the harvest without complaint. Take full responsibility. Once you've learned this scenario, it's not the seed. It's not the soil. It's not the sunshine. It's not the rain. It's not the miracle of the giving of life. It's not the seasons that's to be criticized. We must take personal responsibility. So in the harvest, take personal responsibility. It's your crop. Whatever you've reaped, it's your crop. Take responsibility. No complaint. And here's the next one: No apology. The best of human maturity is no apology. If you've done well, and no complaint if you haven't, knowing that that's where the answers lie within. And then without, in the miracle of the possibilities that we have to work with. Those are the four major lessons in life to learn.

Let's talk about some more parts of personal development. Here's the first one: Physical. The physical side. Got to take care of yourself. Do not neglect to take care of yourself. Good phraseology used in the Bible, in my amateur way. But let me put it to you best I can. Here's what it says: Treat your body like a temple. That's a good phrase. Good suggestion. A temple, meaning something you'd take extremely good care of. A temple. That's a good phrase. Treat your body like a temple, not a woodshed. A temple. Take good care. It's the only place you've got to live currently. The temple. Nutrition. My mother studied nutrition, passed it along to me, passed it along my father, my children, my grandchildren. What a legacy that was. Learning to just take care of yourself. Key phrase. Some people don't do well because they don't feel well. They've got the gifts, they've got the skills, maybe they just haven't taken care of themselves. They don't have the vitality. Key phrase: Vitality is a major part of success. Vitality. So take care of yourself.

I know a guy that raises racehorses. I'm telling you, the guy feeds his horses better than he feeds himself. He's so careful how he feeds his horses. He's so careful what they eat. He's so careful that they get everything. And because of that extreme care, I mean, these are magnificent animals. They can run like the wind. But you ought to see this guy. Ten steps up a flight of stairs, and I mean, he's all out of breath. His horses can run like the wind, and he can hardly make it up the steps. The guy takes care of his animals better than he takes care of himself. Some people feed their dogs better than they feed their kids. Physical.

Now, there's all kinds of parts to physical. Here's one: A. It's part of the physical. Never have a second chance to make a first impression. Physical side. And here's some of the best advice on appearance I can give you. Comes from ancient script again. It says, "God looks on the inside. People look on the outside." Isn't that good information? Now, you say, "Well, people shouldn't judge you by how you look." Well, let me give you a clue: They do. They do. You can't be dealing with these "shoulds" and "shouldn'ts." You'll be tipped over the rest of your life. Now, of course, when people get to know you, they'll judge you by more than what they see. But at first, they're going to take a look. So here's the best advice I can give you: Make sure the outside is a major reflection of what's going on inside. The physical side. Few minutes a day. Stay healthy. Little bit of nutrition. Little bit of study on nutrition. Stay healthy. Key.

Now, here's the next part of personal development: The spiritual part. I'm an amateur on the spiritual side. I do happen to believe that human beings are more than just an advanced life form, an advanced species of the animal kingdom. I do believe humans are a special creation. That's just my personal belief, and I don't ask you to buy it. But here's what I do ask you to buy: If you do believe in spirituality in any manner, here's my best advice: Study it and practice it. Do not neglect your values. Do not neglect your virtues. If you do believe in spirituality, my advice is: Study it and practice it. Don't let it go unstudied. Don't let it go unnourished. If you do believe, that's my best advice on the spiritual side.

Now, here's the third part: The mental side. Part of this personal development challenge is to develop mentally. Learn, study, grow, change. It's what schooling is all about. And human development takes time. Incredible amounts of time. That's why we've taken the time for this seminar. Just takes time. Some things you can't cover in a 20-minute speech. You can't cover in a little five-minute talk. Takes time for humans. It takes seem like more time than any other life form. Human beings. The little wildebeest in Africa. Guess how much time it's got as soon as it's born to be able to run with the pack so it doesn't get eaten by the lions. Guess how much time it's got? A few minutes. Soon as a little wildebeest is born, tries to stand up, falls down. Its mother nudges it, gets it to stand back up, falls back down. Finally, on little shaky legs, it tries to nurse. Mother pushes it away. She moves away so it can't nurse. Why? You can't nurse now. You got to develop some strength. Now, the lions, the lions, the lions. Falls down, gets back up, tries to nurse. Mother pushes it away. No, you got to get these legs strong. How much time have we got? Not much time. Mama wildebeest says, "Not much time." Not hours, not days, minutes. Wow. But the human baby. Wow. After 16 years, we're not sure, right? Unbelievable amount of time. So it does take time for personal development. Does take time for spiritual development, physical development. But here's also what takes time, and that's your mental development. Feeding the mind. Nourishing the mind. Some people read so little, they got rickets of the mind. They couldn't give you a good strong argument as to their own personal beliefs.

Here's one of the challenges we've got as parents, and that is to get our kids ready to debate the major life issues of the '90s. They've got to get ready to debate. We've spent this last couple of decades debating communism. Communism taught capital belongs in the hands of the state. We've been teaching, no, capital belongs in the hands of the people. Communism taught people are too dumb and stupid to know what to do with capital. You got to take capital away from all the dumb, stupid people and give it to the all-knowing, all-wise state, and let the state run everything, and let the people meekly show up for their work assignment. All glory to the state. Communism taught. Says, "Well, is that right?" No. All glory to the people. Let the state be the servant of its people, not the people be the servant of the state. I'm telling you, you got to be able to pick up those ideologies. You got to be able to pick up the philosophy. And here's the next part: You got to be able to defend it. If you can't defend your virtues, and if you can't defend your values, I'm telling you, even in the '90s, you'll fall prey to philosophies that are not in your best interest. And we've got to help our teenagers. We've got to help our kids, especially, to be able to debate the major life issues, the political issues, and the social issues, and the religious issues, and the spiritual issues, and the nutritional issues, and the economic issues, and all the rest of the issues that are valuable for us to build the kind of equities we want. You got to get yourself ready. And one of the ways you got to get ready is not just physical, and not just spiritual. You got to get ready mentally. And this is where Cha went to work on me, to be ready mentally, to develop the philosophy, and also be able to defend your virtues and your values.

Let's go through it. You need a good library. She got me started on my library. Here's one of the books he recommended: "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. "Think and Grow Rich." Cha said to me, "Doesn't that book entitle, intrigue you? Think and Grow Rich. Don't you have to read that book? Think and Grow Rich." I said, "Yes, sir." By Napoleon Hill. I went and found that book in a used bookstore. That's where I had to start. In a used bookstore. I paid less than 50 cents for it. I've still got it. It's one of the rare hardback covers. "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. Wow. Cha was right. Get a library started. It'll change your life. Any home over $200,000 has got a library. Why do you suppose that is? Wouldn't that make you curious? How come every home over $200,000 has got a library? Does that tell you something? Does that educate you at all? You say, "Well, I can't afford a $200,000 home." It doesn't matter what size home. Take your present apartment, clean out a closet, call it your library, and start acting intelligent. And start this process like I did. Start developing a library. Here's what your library needs to show that you're a serious student of health and life, spirituality, culture, uniqueness, sophistication, economics, prosperity, productivity, sales management skills, values of all kind. Let your library show you're a serious student. Don't be casual in learning. Don't be lazy in learning. Information is the key. Okay. Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of prosperity. Learning is the beginning of democracy. The beginning of freedom. All values, all virtues start with the learning process. So don't be lazy in learning. Don't be lazy in gathering the library that'll teach you and instruct you. And I got that book, "Think and Grow Rich." Some of the ideas in that book inspired me no end. Help me to change my life. Now, it's got some weird stuff in it, you know. It's got some weird stuff. Napoleon was weird. So you got to separate out a little of this weird stuff. But you can do that. You can separate out the weird stuff. Okay. Unless you're weird, just do the weird stuff anyway. Remember, don't be a follower, be a student. That's the key to all books. Don't be a follower, be a student.

Okay. Another book he recommended. Help me become financially independent. We're going to cover that before we finish this afternoon. The book was entitled "The Richest Man in Babylon." "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George S. Clason. This little book, "The Richest Man of Babylon." I use it as a textbook teaching teenagers how to be rich by 40. Living in America, 35 if you're extra bright. Much sooner if you find a unique opportunity. I got rich by the time I was 31. Didn't wait till 35. If you find a unique opportunity. So we'll get into that after we come back from our next break. "Richest Man of Babylon." Get your library started.

Here are some key sections to put in your library called mental food. In fact, we call it food for thought. It's so important to nourish the mind, not just the body, but nourish the mind. Key phrase. Now, it needs to be well-balanced. You can't live on mental candy. Somebody says, "Well, I just read this positive stuff." That's second grade. You got to get out of second grade. You can't just be inspired, you got to be taught. You can't just be inspired, you got to be educated. Key.

Here's a good book. It's called "How to Read a Book." Good title. "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer Adler. In this book, "How to Read a Book," Mortimer, you know, was the, is the chief editor of the New Encyclopedia Britannica. A good set of books, right, to have in your library? The Encyclopedia Britannica. Chief editor Mortimer Adler. He's still in, he's in his 80s. He's still active, still writing books. I've got several of his books. The sixth-grade ideas, a lot of books. Mortimer Adler. But he wrote this book, "How to Read a Book." Now, in this book, "How to Read a Book," not only does he give you some good suggestions on how to get the most out of a book, it's one thing to read it, it's another thing to get the best out of it. He'll give you some techniques on how to get the best out of a book. It's very good. But here's what's also in his book, "How to Read a Book": A list of what he calls the best writings ever written. The best writings ever written. I've used it as a centerpiece for my library. So I'm just asking you, take a look. If it suits you, fine. If it doesn't suit you, hey, keep looking till you find something to suit you. But well-balanced.

Let me give you some of that balance. Number one: History. We've all got to have a sense of history. American history, national history, international history, family history, political history. We all need a sense of history. Shortest history lesson: Opportunity mixed with difficulty. Healthy. No matter how far back you go, a thousand years ago, 2,000 years ago, 3,000, 4,000 years ago. I'm feeling it all reads the same. Once you understand the thread that it isn't going to change, then what's going to change for my life? Answer: Looks like I'm going to have to change. History helps us to understand how it is, what there is to work with. Seed, soil, sunshine, rain. And what human beings have done with it in the past. And how many of them have, like I did by age 25, they have messed up. That's what history is for. Be a good student of history. Here's a good book: "Lessons of History" by Durant. "Lessons of History" by Durant. This little book is only 100 pages, but I'm telling you, it's so well-written, you'll be intrigued as I was. This little book, "Lessons of History" by Durant.

Next is Philosophy. Durant also wrote a good book on philosophy, "The Story of Philosophy." It's got a good rundown of the key philosophers of the last several hundred years, what they taught, and some of the lives they lived. You might find it a little difficult, but hey, you can't just read the easy stuff. Key phrase to add here in parenthesis: Don't just read the easy stuff. You won't grow. You won't change. You won't develop. Tackle the more difficult stuff.

Next: Novels. Novels are good. Sometimes an intriguing story keeps our attention so that the author can weave in the philosophy he or she is trying to get across. Ayn Rand was probably better at that than anybody else I could possibly think of. "Atlas Shrugged." Some of those towering novels. The novel kept us intrigued, but guess what she was doing all the time? Feeding us her philosophy. Feeding us her philosophy. Now, whether you agreed with her philosophy or not, you had to admit she was really good at getting it out there, weaving it through the story and the dialogue and in the speeches and in the text. Fabulous novels. Novels are good.

Now, here's a little personal advice: Skip the trash. You don't. Some say, "Well, sometimes you can find something valuable in a trashy novel." I wouldn't go through it to find it. You can find a crust of bread in a garbage can, but I wouldn't go through it. Do it. Number one, you don't need the reputation. So not enough time to read the brilliant stuff, the good stuff. Skip the trash. Really. My personal advice on personal development, becoming more valuable than you are. Keep.

Next is Biographies and Autobiographies. The story of stories of successful people, unsuccessful people. There's some dramatic stuff, right? Over the last hundred years, it's been written. Biographies and autobiographies. Here's one of the best: The Bible. The Bible is a unique book because it's got a list of human stories on one side of the ledger, another list of human stories on the other side of the ledger. One's called examples, the other's called warnings. And here's what we've got to have on biographies and autobiographies: both warnings and examples. In the Bible, the examples. Bible says, "Look at these people's lives. Follow them. Follow their philosophy. Follow their advice." Then we got the warnings, right? "Don't do what these people did. They messed up their life and threw their life away." Vitally important. Both sides of the scenario. Now, if your life story ever gets in one of those books, make sure they use it as an example, not a warning. Also, we need balance. Both sides. Balance. Good and evil. Biographies, autobiographies. You need a book on Gandhi. You need a book on Hitler. One to illustrate how high a human being can go, and the other one to illustrate how low and despicable a human being can become. We need both sides of the scenario.

Next: Accounting. Got to have a little, at least, primary view of accounting. Kids have got to start learning the difference between a debit and a credit. Next is Law. We all need, right? A little bit. You don't have to be a lawyer, but you got to know contracts. What to sign, what not to sign. Backups. Good advice. How to be safe rather than sorry. All of us need a little law. Not a lawyer, but a little law. Especially these complicated days. Everything's in court these days. I learned this the hard way. Company wanted to borrow money, long time ago, up in Canada. Company wanted to borrow some money. The bank said, "Well, yes, we will loan the company the money if Mr. Rohn will sign personally." And I wanted to play hero. And I knew the company could pay it back. Quarter of a million dollars. So I signed. No problem. Sure enough, within less than a year, they paid it all back. Quarter of a million dollars. I am now a hero. Well, about a year later, this company gets in financial trouble. They go back to the bank and borrow this quarter of a million dollars again. I said, "I hope my phone doesn't ring because I won't sign the note this time." Cuz I knew they were in trouble. I knew they were probably going to go bankrupt. My phone never rang. I'm off the hook. Sure enough, within less than a year, the company goes bankrupt. Can't pay. But I get this letter from the bank saying, "Dear Mr. Rohn, since the company cannot perform its obligation and pay this quarter of a million dollars, and since we have here your personal guarantee, would you please send us your check for a quarter of a million dollars?" I said, "Hey, hold it, hold it. There must be some mistake here. I signed that first note, and they paid it all back. I wouldn't have signed the second note. I didn't sign the second note." Well, what I didn't know, I had originally signed was a continuing guarantee. So now I know what the word "continuing" means. I'm asking you to study a little law. Know what to sign. Know how to defend yourself, right? Say, "Hey, we'll get back." Don't sign too quickly. I mean, there's all kinds of things here. Be a student. Don't be lazy in learning how to defend as well as nourish, how to grow as well as take care of your enemies. You got to learn. Let your library indicate that you're a serious student about personal relationships, with your family, gifts and skills, economics, and all the rest.

Here's the next one: Economics. We're going to study that when we come back from our break. Economics. We're going to cover, especially for the kids today, how to become financially independent. Going to let the adults listen. I've been teaching kids for the last 18, 19 years how to be rich by 40. 35 if you're extra bright. Most kids think they're extra bright, they go for 35. Or much sooner if you find a unique opportunity. We're going to get into that. Be a student of economics.

Next: Culture, sophistication. Don't leave that out of your life. Culture is part of the fabric of the nation. Culture is what makes us different. Dogs and animals. Culture is what makes us different from the barbarian. Culture, sophistication. Be a student of the dance, and the art, and the music, and all the rest of those extraordinary human values that are possible for us all to participate in, as well as to enjoy. Be a student of culture.

And the last one is Spirituality. Study it from the Bible and all the related books about spirituality. If you're a believer, study and practice. Let your library show you're a serious student.

Next: Keep a journal. Cha said, "Mr. Rohn, not only be a student, but the good ideas that you develop from the books, keep a separate journal. Write all this stuff down." Here's what he said: "Don't trust your memory." If you're serious about becoming wealthy, and powerful, and sophisticated, healthy, influential, cultured, unique, keep a journal. Don't trust your memory. If you listen to something valuable, write it down. If you come across something important, write it down. Write it down. Now, I used to take notes on pieces of paper, and torn-off corners, and backs of old envelopes, and restaurant placemats, and long sheets, and narrow sheets, and little sheets, and pieces, throwing in a drawer. Found out the best way: keep a journal. I've been keeping these journals now since age 25. It makes up a valuable part of my own learning, and it's a valuable part of my library. My own journals now form a good portion of my own library. The stuff I'm trying to get kids to do like I do. Be a buyer of empty books. Kids find it interesting. I'd buy an empty book, especially at my status in life. What did I pay for this one? $26. Kids say, "$26 for an empty book? Why would you do that?" Well, the reason I paid $26 is to press me to see if I can't find something worth $26 to put in here. And I'm telling you, all my journals are private, but if you got a hold of one of my journals, you wouldn't have to look very far until you would say, "This is worth more than $26." I must admit, if you got a glimpse of Mr. Rohn's journals, you'd have to say, "He is a serious student, not just committed to his craft, but committed to life, committed to skills, committed to learning to see what I can do with seed and soil and sunshine and rain and miracle and possibilities and turn it into equities of life and treasure, family relationships, enterprise, sales management, gifts galore, everything you want, all available, especially in America." I'm asking you, keep a journal. I call it one of the three treasures to leave behind. Let me give you that: one of the three treasures to leave behind.

Number one is your pictures. Take a lot of pictures. Did you ever look back, two, three generations? Just a handful of photographs way back there. Wouldn't it be something if there was album after album, thousands of pictures to help tell the story? A picture's worth a thousand words. Don't be lazy in capturing the event. How long does it take to capture the event? A fraction of a second. How long does it take to miss the event? A fraction of a second. Errors in judgment or disciplines. Take lots of pictures. Help tell the story. Click, click, got it. Click, click, got it. Keep. I go to Taiwan to lecture, Taipei, Taiwan, Grand Hotel, neat place to do a weekend seminar. I got a thousand students. Guess how many cameras? 1,000. And cameras. They all bring their cameras. They wouldn't miss the event. Take pictures. Takes me more time to take pictures than it does to do the lectures. Here's my new American friend. Here's my new American friend. Click, click. Save it. Got it. Thousand words each one. What a scenario. Don't miss the pictures. When you're gone, one of the things to leave behind, the treasure in pictures as well as in words. Keep.

Next: Your library. The library that you gathered, that taught you, that instructed you, that helped you to defend your ideals, that helped you to develop a philosophy, that helped you to become wealthy and powerful and healthy and sophisticated and unique. The library that helped conquer some disease. The library that helped you to conquer poverty. The library that caused you to walk away from the ghetto. The library, the books that instructed you, fed your mind and fed your soul. Leave your library behind. One of the greatest gifts you can leave behind is your library. Stepping stones out of the darkness into the light. Your library. So leave your books behind. Your books will be more valuable than your couch. Your books, your books, your books.

And third is your journals. The ideas that you picked up, the notes you took at seminars like this, wherever you found an occasion to gather something valuable and put it in here so you could go back over it and go back over it. Repetition is the mother of skill. Read it one more time. Learn it one more time. See if you can't adjust it one more time. Let it coach you one more time. Let it teach you one more time. Let it inspire you one more time. Words are inspirational. The lyrics of a psalm. And not just read it once. That's why we put our stuff on cassette so you can go through it again and again and again. If you hear a beautiful song that does something to you, you don't say, "Well, that's enough. Don't need to hear that again." No. Wouldn't you want to hear it again? Hear it again. Hear it again. Let it instruct you. Let it feed you. Let it teach you. Take you on wings of emotional journeys. Wouldn't you want to do that again? The answer is yes. That's what's so important. And here's what's important: one of the things to leave behind, that's your journals. All the stuff you took the meticulous time to gather. One of the greatest proofs that you're a serious student. Taking pictures, that's pretty easy. Buying a book at a bookstore, that's pretty easy. Here's one that's a little more challenging: Be student enough of your own life and your own future and your own destiny. Be student enough to take the time to keep the notes and keep the journal. You'll be so glad you did. What a treasure to leave behind when you go. Your journals. Wow. I wouldn't be without mine.

Now, I'm in Carmel, California. California, one of my favorite places. It's where I wrote my first book called "Seasons of Life." I went to this little church one Sunday morning. First time I'd been there. Little small church, I don't know, 150 people. Classic sermon that morning. Classic sermon. One of the best I've ever heard in all of my life. I happened to be there, and I had my journal. While this sermon is going on, I can't believe it was so precise, it was so unique, it was so powerful. And I've got my journal, and I'm taking notes. Taking notes of this classic sermon. Uh, guess how many other people were taking notes? Approximately. Guess how many? Do you suppose? It looked like, best as I could tell, I'm the only one taking notes of this classic sermon. Now, since I'm a stranger there, and it's the first time I've been there, and I'm taking these notes, people started looking. "Who is he? And what's he doing?" I started feeling just a little bit uncomfortable. I'm still writing. Now I'm feeling kind of like a spy, right? I could hear some of them say, "He's going to get out of here with some of this stuff." And I did. I did. I'm the guy that walked away with the stuff.

I'm asking you to be no less sincere and be no less committed to the advancement of your philosophy. The set of the sale. Talk about having your best year ever this year, and then getting ready for next year, your very best year ever. And they'll start being the best, the best, the best year after year if you'll commit yourself to some of this simple stuff called personal development. Start with a walk around the block. Start with the refinement of your philosophy. Start with the teaching of your own fabulous mind, where all the answers are. I can only give you a few answers from my own experience. The rest of all the magical answers are within the confines of your own mind. But takes the books, takes the cassettes, takes the videos, personal conversation, sermons, lyrics from songs, dialogue from the movie. Let your heart be stirred by words. Find ways to capture part of your personal development quest.

Now, here's the last subject on personal development, just before we take our.

Break, isn't this good stuff? I'm telling you, this stuff changed my life. Turn me every way but loose. I've never been the same since my teacher gave me some of this simple instruction: how to go from where you are to where you want to go, how to go from what you are to what you want to become, how to go from pennies to treasure, how to go from nothing to fortune. It's all within the confines of this stuff that I've been trying to share with you, laboring best I can. Words are clumsy at when you try and your your experience, but I'm doing my best today and I'm excited about. Appreciate you taking all these good notes, good students today. I appreciate that.

[Music]

Develop these five abilities as part of your personal development quest. I call them the five abilities. Here's the first one: develop the ability to absorb. The ability to soak it up like you're doing today. Be like a sponge. Don't miss anything. And not just the words, it's true, don't miss the words, but don't miss the atmosphere, don't miss the color, don't miss the scenario, don't miss what's going on. Most people are just trying to get through the day. Here's what I want you to be committed to do: learn to get from the day. Don't just get through it, get from it. Learn from it. Let the day teach you. Join the University of life. What a difference that'll make in your future. Commit yourself to learning. Commit yourself to absorbing. Be like a sponge. Get it. Don't miss it.

I've got a personal friend of mine who's so gifted in this area. I think he has soaked up and remembers everything that's ever happened to him. He can tell you as a teenager where he was and what he did and what he said and what she said and how they felt and the color of the sky and what was going on that day. And the reason is because he gets it. He gets it. He gets it. I'm telling you, it's more exciting to have him go to Acapulco, come back and tell you about it than it is to go yourself. He's unbelievable. He's got this extraordinary gift. And why is it when he's there, he doesn't miss anything? Here's a good phrase for you to jot down: wherever you are, be there. Be there to absorb up. Be there to soak it up. Take a picture if you can, but take pictures of your mind. Let your soul and heart take pictures. Get it. Capture it. Absorb it. That's such an important ability to develop. The ability to get it. Don't miss it. Don't be casual in getting it. Key phrase: casualness leads to casualties.

Second, learn to respond. The ability to respond means let life touch you. Don't let it kill you, but let it touch you. Let sad things make you sad. Let happy things make you happy. I'm telling you, give in to the emotion. Let the emotion strike you, not just the words, not just the image. Let the feeling strike you. Let the emotion strike you. Here's what's important: our emotions need to be as educated as our intellect. Our emotions need to be educated as well as our intellect. It's important to know how to feel. It's important to know how to respond. It's important to let life in. Let it touch you. I'm the greatest guy in the world to take to the movies. I get into a good movie. I want a good movie. Make me laugh, make me cry, scare me to death, teach me something, take me high, take me low, just don't leave me as I was when I came in. Touch me. Do something to me.

Wow. I picked up the newspaper in Australia. The advertisement says, "See Dr. Zhivago on the big screen." I said, "My gosh, I got to go see it on the big screen." I'd seen it, you know, two or three times before, but the big screen. I love the old theaters, right? The balconies and the chandeliers and the draperies and all this stuff. The big screen. So I go one more time, see Dr. Zhivago. And sure enough, I'm swept away one more time. Story of the Russian Revolution, Dr. Zhivago and that whole scenario. I had always missed the importance of the ending of that movie until this time. The other times I missed it. I'm telling you, this time I got it. "Comrade General," said Tanya, "how did you come to be lost?" After he'd found her, right? Said, "How did you come to be lost?" And she said, "Well, I was just lost." He said, "No, how did you come to be lost?" She said, "Well, we were, you know, the city was on fire when we were running to escape, and I was lost." He said, "No, how did you come to be lost?" And that's what she didn't want to say. He finally pressed her again, "How did you come to be lost?" And he said, "Well," she said, "well, while we were running through the city and it was on fire, my father let go of my hand, and I was lost." That's what she didn't want to say. Comrade General said, "Tanya, that's what I've been trying to tell you. Kamarov was not your real father. He was not." I'm telling you, I've been looking all over for you, and I think I found you. This man, my relative, Dr. Zhivago, the poet, I'm telling you, he was your father. And Comrade General said, "Tanya, I promise you this: if this man, your real father, had been there, I promise you he would never have let go of your hand." And I got it this time. I got it. The other times I'm eating popcorn, waiting for the movie to finish. I mean, this time I got it. I got it. I got it. I'm asking you to get it. Absorb and respond.

Maybe you heard the story about the the evangelist here in Texas way back in the horse and buggy days. Used to put up his uh tent in, you know, these various Texas towns and hold tent revivals. And he put up his tent. One of these towns expected a big crowd to come and hear him preach. And he got there. First night of the tent revival, and he walked inside the tent. It was empty. And he thought, "Something must be wrong." He waited till 8:00, nobody showed up. He waited till 8:15, not a soul. Finally, 8:30, one lone cowboy wandered up on his horse, tied his horse up outside, came in, sat down on the front bench. Big empty tent. So the preacher thought, "Well, at least I better go down and talk to the cowboy." So he goes down and talks to the cowboy. And he says, "Cowboy, I don't know what to tell you. He said, I'm the preacher, and this tent was supposed to be full of people, and he said, something's gone wrong. I really don't know what to do. I'm embarrassed, and he said, I don't know what to do." And the cowboy said, "Well, you know, I'm not a preacher, I'm just a cowboy, so I can't tell you what to do. But he said, I know this: if I went out to feed my cattle and only one showed up, I'd at least feed it." So, uh, the preacher said, "Hey, the cowboy is right. If you've got a message to share, if there's one person or a thousand, don't let your ego get in the way. You know, you should do the best you can." So he got kind of inspired by this conversation with the cowboy, jumped up on the platform, started preaching as if the tent was full of people. And he was so inspired, he just kept going, kept going, went for an hour, went for an hour and 15 minutes, hour and a half, finally wound down and quit. Came down off the platform, talked to the the cowboy again. Said, "Well, Cowboy, what did you think of my sermon?" The cowboy said, "Well, I'm not a preacher, so I can't really tell. I'm just a cowboy. But he said, I know this: if I went out to feed my cattle and only one showed up, I'd feed it. But I wouldn't dump the whole load on it." Oh, if it seems like we're dumping the whole load here today, I guess we really are. But you guys are working hard. Does anybody have four, four pages of notes? Oh, wonderful, wonderful. My job, I'm getting it done. Wonderful. We should give a prize one of these days for the most notes. Fantastic. I congratulate you. You're working as hard as I am. I appreciate that. Okay, we got some more work to do. So let's go to work, everybody. It's okay. Say, "I'm okay." "I'm okay." All right. I'd love to take you with me as my traveling audience.

Wow. We've covered the first two abilities in the personal development quest. One is the ability to absorb. Don't miss anything. Pay attention. Good word for the '90s: pay attention. Things are moving so fast these days. You got to pay attention. Pick it up. Soak up the colors, soak up the sounds, soak up what's going on. Second, respond. Let life touch you. Let the emotions affect you as well as the sights.

Now, here's the third ability: develop the ability to reflect. Reflect means go back over. Study it again. Go back over these notes that you're taking today. Go back through the cassettes one more time. Read the text one more time. But there's more to it than that. Go back over your day. I call it run the tapes again so that the day locks in firmly. Here's some good times to reflect: one, at the end of the day. Take a few minutes at the end of the day. Go back over the day. Who'd you see and what they say and what happened? How'd you feel? What went on? So that you capture that day. A day is a piece of the mosaic of your life. Number one, don't treat it casual. Number two, get from the day. And then number three, go back over the day so that it locks in that experience, the knowledge, the sights, the sounds, the panorama, the color, emotion, picture of the day. Just lock it in so that it will serve you for the future. Having that day, not missing it.

Next, take a few hours at the end of the week. Call it time to reflect. Go back over your daytime, or go back over your calendar, go back over your appointment book. Where did you go and who did you see and how did it feel and what went on? Capture that week. A week is a pretty good chunk of time.

Next, take half a day at the end of the month. Call it time to reflect and do the same thing again. Go back over what you read, go back over what you heard, go back over what you saw, go back over the feelings to capture it so that it serves you.

Next, take a weekend at the end of the year to establish this year now firmly in your consciousness, firmly in your experience bank so that you've got it, so that it never disappears. Good ability to acquire: the ability to reflect. Go back over. Remember, remember, remember. It's so valuable to be able to remember the thought, remember the idea, remember the experience, remember the occasion, remember the day, remember the weather, remember the emotion, remember the complexity, remember the highs, remember the lows. So valuable. At the end of the day, lock that day in. Lock the month in. Lock the week in. Lock the year in.

Old Testament says a unique scenario unfolded according to the law, and that was they worked nine years, and the 10th year was a sabbatical. The 10th year, work nine, take the 10th year. And not just to relax, not just to replenish, not maybe just to get physically in shape, change of pace, we call it in the modern society. But not just for that. I'm sure that in ancient days, that sabbatical was to go over the last nine years. Years, what went right and what went wrong and what worked well and what didn't work well, and how did you grow and how did you learn and how did you change, and what have you got now after nine years that you didn't have at the beginning of the nine years? See, that's so valuable. A sabbatical. A sabbatical. Some time. Some time.

There's also something to be said for solitude when you reflect. Sometimes you can reflect with somebody. Husband and wife reflect on the past year, right? Parents reflect with their children on the past year. How did we do it and how didn't we do it and how could we improve? Colleagues can reflect with each other. But now, here's one of the most important: you got to learn to reflect with yourself. There's something to be said for solitude. There's something to be said for taking those occasions to shut out the world and shut out everything else for a while. For a while. I've got a motor home. That's how I do my motorcycle on the back, and I head for the mountains and ride the Jeep trails where there's very few human beings on the Jeep trails, or out in the desert somewhere. It's called my time to get away. When you live a very public life, you treasure solitude. A chance to reflect. Go back over my life, go back over my skills, go back over my experiences alone. Alone. There are some things you need to do alone. Ponder, think, wonder, read, study, absorb, soak in. See if you can't become better this year than you were last year. Better the next nine than you were the first nine. Solitude.

There's even a more modern advice that says go to the closet for time of meditation, time of prayer. Go to the closet. Closet meaning what? Away. And there's even a graphic description of the away. Said, "Enter into your closet." And what? Got some students here, I'm sure. What? Close the door for what? Just to shut out everything. Life is experience, experience, experience, and touching and seeing and looking and doing and acting and disciplines and all the stuff. But sometimes, this is where this reflecting is so important. To shut the door. To shut the door and wonder, prayer, contemplation, thinking, and let things move in to your consciousness and awareness that no other way can it be done, right? Flying down the freeway. I'm telling you, it's difficult to get through. So many things to do. It's difficult to get through. But times of solitude, times to reflect. So this is so valuable. Learn to reflect.

Now, here's why it's important to reflect: to make the past more valuable to serve you for the future. Here's what's really powerful: learning to gather up the past and invest it in the future. Gather up today and invest it in tomorrow. Gather up this week and invest it in the next week. Gather up this year and invest it in the next year. See, that's so powerful. Rather than just hanging on one more year, hanging in there, seeing what's going to happen. Learn. Study. This is part of the personal development quest. Becoming better than you are, more valuable than you are. Not just in terms of economics, in terms of motherhood, in terms of fatherhood, in terms of being a better brother, better colleague, making a better contribution to the family, to the society, to the community, to the church, to the office, to the commitment, to the partnership. Doesn't matter what it is, that has value. Work on yourself. Then you bring more value to the partnership, to the marriage, to the franchise, to the corporation, to the enterprise, to the community, to the nation. Self-development, personal development. The best contribution you can make to someone else is self-development, not self-sacrifice. Self-sacrifice only earns contempt. Self-development earns respect. Pity the mother who says, "I'm just going to give up my life for my children." Self-sacrifice is not noble. Self-investment is noble. From self-development, if I work on myself and become more valuable, think of what that'll do for our friendship. I used to use the old expression, "You take care of me and I'll take care of you." I found out how shallow and short-ended that was, and I changed it to read like this: "I'll take care of me for you, if you will please take care of you for me." And this is part of it. The personal development that we work harder on ourselves than we do on our job. Now we bring that to the friendship. Now we bring that to the marriage. Now we bring that to the family relationship as a father, as a mother. And we develop the strength, and we develop the power. That's key. And it takes, I think, this scenario of disciplines, these abilities to acquire those gifts and those skills, that value, so that we bring more. Now we bring more to the next week. We bring more to the next month. We bring more to the next year. If you follow this: absorb, respond, and reflect.

I said to my father when he was about to turn 76, his 76th birthday, I said, "Dear father of mine, can you imagine what it's going to be like to gather up the last 75 years of your life and invest them in your 76th year?" What a difference of philosophy. Rather than just hanging on one more year, gather up 75 and invest them in the next one. Gather up the last six years and invest them in the next year. See, that's so powerful. In communication, which we're going to study soon, so powerful.

So consider this: one, the ability to absorb. Second, the ability to respond. Third, the ability to reflect. Here's number four: develop the ability to act. Take action. Not hasty, if it isn't required, but don't lose much time. Here's the time to act: when the idea is hot and the emotion is strong. That's the time to act. You say, "Mr. R, I'd like to have a library like yours." See, if you feel strong about that, what you got to do is get the first book and then get the second book before the feeling passes and before the idea gets dim. Prompt action. Immediate action. As soon as possible. Because if you don't, here's what happens: we call it the law of diminishing intent. We intend to when the idea strikes us. We intend to when the emotion is high. But now, if you don't translate that into action fairly soon, now, now the intent starts to diminish, diminish, diminish. And a month from now, it's cold. Year from now, can't be found. So act. Set up a discipline. When the emotions are high and the ideas strong and clear and powerful, that's the time to set up the discipline. Somebody talks about good health and you're stirred. Says, "Right, I need to get a book on nutrition." Get the book before the idea passes and before, before the emotion gets cold. Go for the book. Start the library. Start the process. Fall on the floor, do some push-ups. Action. Got to take action, otherwise the wisdom is wasted. Otherwise, the emotion soon passes unless you put it into a disciplined activity. Capture it. Disciplines is called how to capture the emotion and how to capture the wisdom and translate it into equity. Disciplines.

Now, here's what's important about disciplines: all disciplines affect each other. In fact, here's a good philosophical phrase: everything affects everything else. Nothing stands alone. Don't be naive and saying, "Well, this doesn't matter." I'm telling you, everything matters. There are some things that matter more than others, but there isn't anything that doesn't matter. Okay, we all pity the man says, "Well, this is the only place I let down." Not true. Key to take home: every letdown affects the rest of your performance. Every letdown affects the rest. This is part of the educational process on personal development. If you don't take the walk around the block, you probably won't do the apple a day. If you don't do the apple a day, you probably won't consist, you know, start building your library. If you don't build your library, you probably won't keep a journal and you won't take pictures, and you won't do this, you won't do wise things with your money, won't do wise things with your time, won't do wise things with your possibilities and relationships. And the first thing you know, six years of that accumulated, and we say you have messed up. So the whole key to reversing that process now is to start picking up these disciplines.

Now, here's the positive side: every new discipline affects the rest of your disciplines. Every new one affects the rest. That's why action is so important. The least action, the smallest action, take it. Because when you start accomplishing and the value starts to return from that one action, it'll inspire you to do the next one, and the next one, and the next one. You start walking around the block, it'll inspire you to get an apple. Get an apple, it'll inspire you to get a book. Get a book, it'll inspire you to get a journal. Get a journal, it'll inspire you to grow, develop some skills. All disciplines affect each other. Every lack affects the rest. Every new affects the rest. The key is to diminish the lack and set up the new, and you've started a whole new life process.

Key also, one more thought on discipline: here's the greatest value of discipline: self-worth, self-esteem. People are teaching self-esteem these days, but they don't connect it to disciplines. The least lack of discipline, and it starts to erode our psyche. One of the greatest temptations is to just ease up a little bit, right? The the the slightest lack of doing your best starts to erode the psyche. Instead of doing your best, doing just a little less than your best. Sure enough, you say, "Well, it's just going to affect my sales." No, it's going to affect your consciousness. It's going to affect your philosophy. Now you've begun, in the slightest way, to affect your own philosophy. Here's the problem with the least neglect: neglect starts as an infection, and if you don't take care of it, it becomes a disease. And one neglect leads to another. And the worst of all, when neglect starts, it diminishes our self-worth, our self-confidence, our self-value. You say, "Well, how can I get back my self-respect?" I'm telling you, you don't have to go to 29 classes. All you have to do is start the smallest discipline that now corresponds to your own philosophy, like, "I should, and I could, and I will." No longer will I let neglect stack up on on me so that I will have the sorry scenario six years from now, giving some excuse instead of celebrating my progress. That's the key to discipline.

Okay, let's get kids involved in the least of disciplines. One more, and then one more, and then another one, and then another one, and then some more. And the first thing you know, you're starting to weave the tapestry of a disciplined life into which you can pour more wisdom and more attitude and more strong feeling, more faith, and more courage. Now you've got something, a vessel in which to put it. And now the equity starts to flow, and the early return. I'm telling you, if you'll start this process, the early return will have you so excited, you'll commit yourself to this strategy for the rest of your life. You'll never go back to the old ways. Join a new crowd, join a new group. The disciplines to do it. Take action.

I recommended the last time I was here, the little book, "The Richest Man in Babylon." And I said, "I've lectured now to over 3 million people in the last 33 years, and I've recommended this little book to almost all of them." I, I think, guess how many have actually gone and got this little book? Answer: very few. My best guess is 10%. Such an easy thing to do. In that last seminar, right? I suggested this little book. Number one, it's easy to find. Number two, it's easy to buy. The most you can pay for it, $6.78. You can borrow that from your kids. And number three, it's easy to read. It's in story form. That's why I use it for teenagers, teaching them how to be rich by 40, 35, if you're extra bright, much sooner if you find a unique opportunity. But if it's easy to find and easy to buy, and if it's easy to read, why wouldn't everybody go get it? We don't know. What do you know? You don't know. I don't know. Nobody knows. Here's how profound it is: some do, and some don't. Now, here's the numbers: about 10% do, 90% don't or won't. And we don't know the mystery of that. And I'm telling you, 10 years from now, those numbers will still be the same. 10% will, 90% won't. The numbers don't change, only the faces change. You're looking at one of the faces. I used to belong to the 90% who couldn't be bothered, even if it was easy.

Guess how many people have a library card? Wisdom of the world available. Transform your life in any value amount you want. By the way, how much is a library card in Texas? Free. Here's what free is: easy. I mean, it can't be any easier than free. Somebody says, "Well, would you bring it by?" Well, no, at least you got to go get it. No wisdom of the world available. Transform your life spiritually, socially, personally, economically, and every other way. Teach you how to be rich and powerful and sophisticated and healthy, influential. How many people have a library card? Answer: 3%. 95, 97% couldn't be bothered. Guy specializes in happy hour, but he doesn't have a card. And now readily and quickly blames the government, and blames his company, and blames policy, and blames the pay scale. When if he only knew, if he joined the 3%, here's my advice to you today: walk away from the 97%. Don't talk like they talk. Don't act like they act. Don't go where they go. Don't specialize in what they specialize in. Throw away the blame list they cling to. Start you a new life. You say, "Well, is it as simple as get in a library card and join the 3%?" And the answer is, of course. Of course. That's how easy this stuff is. This is so easy, it's so simple. It's not complex. You don't need a 2,000-year-old guru. You don't need multi-rack affirmations. I'm telling you, don't affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion. Key: don't let somebody sweep you into some contrary way to nature itself. Says unless you labor the miracle of the seed and the soil and the seasons and God and all the other stuff that's available, sunshine and rain, that's not available to you by affirmation. It is only available to you by labor. So labor well. Okay? Learn well. Discipline yourself well. And you can have all the treasures you want. This stuff's easy and simple. It's not ocean waves and seagulls. You don't have to move to Sedona where all the force fields come together in Arizona. Let's teach our kids the simple ways to transform their health, number one. Their economics, number two. Their ability to communicate, number three. Their life and treasure and lifestyle, number four. Spirituality, number five. And the list goes on and on. Let's not leave out any of the least of disciplines that encourage us to do the next one, to do the next one, to do the next one. First thing you know, this whole scenario for you is spinning up instead of out of control on the negative side. This is all you got to do. It's as simple as this. It's as simple as a start. Committing yourself to life change. And once you start down this road, I promise you, you'll join the 10% in the 3%.

We're going to talk financial independence in just a little while. Guess how many people can retire from the income of their own personal resources when it comes time to retire? Answer: 5%. In the most independent country in the world, 95% are dependent. 5% are independent. Take charge of your own retirement. I'm telling you, if you take charge of your own retirement through personal development and all these skills we've taught today, plus what's coming up, financial independence, I'm telling you, take charge of your own retirement. You can multiply it at least by five, maybe by 10, maybe by 20, maybe by 100. Let the government take care of it, some company take care of it, you got to divide by five. Take charge of your own life. Take charge of your own day. Take charge of your own conversation. Take charge of your own family. Take charge of your own possibilities. And learn these skills, develop this kind of strategy, and I'm telling you, life will open up for you. Join the 3%. Join the 10%. Join the 5%. Walk away from the 95%.

In our leadership weekend, we teach: find out what poor people read and don't read it. I'm telling you, don't talk like they talk. Lend a helping hand, but don't fall into their poor philosophical scenario. Don't blame what they blame. Don't use the excuses they use. It's called the language of the poor. Switch gears, switch language, switch ideas, switch strategy. Start with the simplest of disciplines. And don't be mean any of these disciplines. The smallest of disciplines starts the process of life change. And if you'll invest in this thing called discipline, you can have whatever you wish. It's called the beginning of a miracle.

Now, here's the last clue on discipline: do the best you can. We covered earlier, but here's a good scenario for the "do the best you can." I've got a good question for you: is the best you can do all you can do? The answer is no. Strangely enough, if we all fell on the floor right now and did as many push-ups as we possibly could, and let's say for some reason you haven't been into push-ups lately, I can't imagine why, but let's say, and let's say the best you can do is five, and you look up at the rest of us and say, "Hey, five is the best I can do." We can tell on your face that's probably true. Five is the best you can do. Now, is five all you can do? The answer is no. If you rest a little, you can do five more. Wow. And if you rest a little, you can do five more. And if you rest a little, you can do 15 more. How did we get from five to 15? It's a miracle. And if you rest a little, you can do 15. Rest a little, you can do 15. Rest a little, you can do 20. How did you get from 5 to 20? It's a miracle. Did you know you can keep doing that? Do a little more, rest a little, do a little more, rest a little, and finally get up to 50 push-ups. Is it possible to get up to 50 push-ups? Of course. How do you go from 5 to 50? It's a miracle. How do you get a miracle going? Number one, do what you can. Don't leave out what you can. From writing a letter to your mother in Florida, start cleaning it all up. Two, doing the push-ups, go from 5 to 50. It's a miracle. Number one, do what you can. Number two, do the best you can. Here's number three: rest very little. Don't rest too long. Why? The weeds take the garden. Kids have got that figured out. You can't rest too long. Here's the clue: make rest a necessity, not an objective. The objective of life is not to rest. The objective of life is to act. Think of more disciplines. Think of more ways and means in which to use your own wisdom and your own philosophy and use your own attitude, your own faith, your own courage, your own commitment, your own desires, your own excitement. Invest it. Invest it. Invest it. Invest it in discipline so that it's not wasted. The smallest of discipline thereby transform your life. Join the 5%. Join the 10%. Join the 3%.

Guess when I went and got this little book, "The Richest Man in Babylon"? The same day I heard about it, I went and got it. Somebody says, "Well, Mr. R, does that make you different than most other people?" And the answer is, yes. Somebody says, "Well, why is that?" We don't know. We don't know. What do you know? You don't know. I don't know. None of us knows. Some do, and some don't. The numbers don't change, only the faces change. From those who get in on a seminar like this, listen to a dynamic sermon, read a book, listen to some cassettes, take seriously the next conversation of a friend who wants to level with you and do something about it, you can walk away from the 97%. Not live there anymore. Because if you don't, the next six years of your life will be like the last six. Mr. Scha said to me, "Mr. Ran, six years now you've been working." I'm telling you, the next six years your life is going to be like the last six unless you take advantage and start making these personal changes. I made the changes. Totally revolutionized my life. So take a look at the next five years of your life. It's going to be like the last five unless, unless, unless, unless you change. And if you will change, everything will change. Join the 5%. Here, 10 years from now, the numbers are going to be the same. But I'm telling you, some faces in this audience can change and start showing up in the 3% crowd, in the 5% crowd, in the 10% crowd, and thereby dynamically affect your life and your future. Develop these strengths.

Now, here's the last ability: develop the ability to share. Pass along to someone else. If you've picked up a good idea today, pass it along. Don't let it stay. Pass it along. A book, if you take one of these little books I've suggested home and it affects you, pass it along. Say, "Hey, I found a book, really helped me. I found a book, got me thinking. I found a book, changed my health. I found a book, got me inspired." Pass it along. Pass it along. Pass it along. Here's what's exciting about sharing: if you share with 10 different people, they get to hear it once. You get to hear it 10 times. So it's probably going to do more for you than it is for them. But it's called what? Everybody wins when somebody shares. Everybody wins. Wow. Share your ideas. Share your experiences. Share your knowledge. You can have just as much pleasure as I do. I said giving this seminar. This is one of my joys in life. Give a seminar like this, make the best investment I can of words and spirit and heart and soul and time, energy. I don't have to work this hard, but I gladly work this hard. Why? I want the return. Your words touch my life. See, that's heavyweight stuff. You can't buy it with money. But I'm telling you, you can get the same thing started by recommending a book. Somebody will read that book, and then they'll read another one, and they'll read another one, and they'll come to you someday and say, "You got me started. That book you recommended turned my lights on, turned my mind around, got me thinking, got me pondering, and I've been on track ever since." You can get just as much praise as I do if you'll share. Share with your children. Share with your colleagues. Share with everybody that comes within your grasp. Share.

Now, here's what sharing does: not only helps you, helps the person you share with. Here's what else it does: makes you bigger than you are. If I had a glass of water up here and it was full, question: can that glass hold any more water if it's full? If the glass is full, can it hold any more water? The answer is yes, but for it to hold more, you got to pour out what's already in. That's what I'm asking you to do. If you're full of ideas, if you're full of good things, I'm asking you to pour it out. Pour it out. Pour it out. Why? I'm telling you, more will be poured in, poured in, poured in. Next, when you do pour out, you become bigger. It's not like a glass that stays the same. Human beings have the ability to grow in consciousness and awareness and capacity. It's unlimited capacity. I found out kids don't lack capacity. In Europe, the kids speak what? Two, three, four, five, six languages. When I grew up, my father spoke German, never taught me. My mother spoke French, never taught me. They were trying to get away from all the old world languages back then. Had no concept how valuable languages were going to be in the future. Just didn't know. So they abandoned the German, abandoned the French. I could have learned all three languages instead of just English. My girls went to high school, went to school in Beverly Hills. They've turned that around. In first grade now, in Beverly Hills school system, they offer three languages besides English: French and German, Spanish. Why? Because kids can learn two languages just as easy as one. Question: how many languages can a child learn? Here's how many: as many as you'll take the time to teach them. They do not lack capacity. They only lack teachers. Wow. And I'm telling you, the same thing is with you. You don't lack capacity. But here's how you expand your capacity, and that is to share what you've got. Now you get bigger. Share some more. Now you get bigger. I'm here for a very self-interested reason. If I share with you, my consciousness grows. If I share with you, I get to hear this again. Somebody asked me not long ago, said, "Mr. R, how are you doing with all this stuff you get on everybody's case pretty hard? How are you doing with all this stuff you teach?" I said, "Well, best I can share with you is this: listen to me very carefully, but don't watch me too close. This stuff's easier to lecture on than it is to do. I understand that. I'm working on it, just like you. But hey, pour out what you've got so that your capacity grows."

Now, why should you want your capacity to grow? Very self-interested reason. Here it is: to hold more of the next experience. You mean to tell me that sitting in this audience, some people will get more out of it than others? The answer is yes. If you haven't been into expanding your own capacity lately, you might not get much from this seminar. But if you've been into expanding your capacity, you've been sharing, and you've been doing all this stuff, I'm telling you, no telling what all this could mean to you today. This chance to grow, change, develop, absorb, take in. I'm asking you to expand and grow so you can hold more of the next experience. Some people can't be very happy. You could pour happiness out on the whole world. Some people can't be very happy. Why? They're not big enough. If you're small, you don't get much. Small in comprehension, small in the ability to think and wonder, small in appreciation. No matter how much is poured out, prosperity can be poured out on the whole country. Some people don't get much. Wise? They're too small. Too small in their thinking, too small in their ability to share. Have not expanded to their full capacity. Don't be like that. Now, some people aren't going to get much because they've got their cup turned upside down. You couldn't put anything in. Learn to share. It's a glorious, glorious experience.

Okay, enough on personal development. Let's cover now setting goals. Let me show you something that turned me every way but loose. I've never been the same since I found out about it: learning how to set goals. Not long after I met Mr. Scha, we're having breakfast one morning. Mr. Scha said, "Mr. R, now that we've gotten acquainted, we know each other fairly well. He said, maybe one of the best ways I can help you, he said, let me see your current list of goals. Let's go over them and talk about them." And I said, "What? I don't have a list." He said, "Well, Mr. Ran, if you don't have a list of your goals, he said, I can guess your bank balance within a few hundred." Which he did. And that got my attention. I said, "You mean my bank balance would change if I had a list of goals?" He said, "Drastically." So that day, I became a student of setting goals, and I've used it to dynamically affect my life. I've taught it to some of my business colleagues. We use it to do business around the world. Setting goals. It can turn out to be a drama for your life. Here's what goals are: your vision of the future. Your vision of the future. Now, there's two ways to face the future: one with apprehension, number two with anticipation. Guess how most people face the future? With apprehension. Why? Major reason why: they don't have it well-designed. They've left the design of their future to somebody else. And if you don't make plans of your own, guess what? You'll probably fall into someone else's plans. Guess what someone else may have planned for you? Not much. You got to make a list of this "not much" stuff. I'm telling you, people all their lives count on this "not much" list. If all of your negative relatives all turn positive, what will that do for your future? Not much. If prices come down a little, what will that do for your future? Not much. If the economy gets a little better, what will that do for your future? Not much. If circumstances get a little better, what will that do? Not much. If the weather gets a little better over the next few years, that'll do not much. I mean, you can go right down this whole scenario list. Most people all their lives, with their fingers crossed, count on this "not much" list. That's why 10 years from now, they'll be driving what they don't want to drive, living where they don't want to live, wearing what they don't want to wear, doing what they don't want to do, having what they don't want to have, maybe become what they didn't want to become. And it all starts by counting on something that's not going to count much. You say, "Well, then how can my life dramatically change?" You got to count on yourself. And here's one of the things you got to count on: your ability to design the future. It's called the promise. And the promise of the future, if you'll design it well, can have awesome effect on your life. But if you face the future with apprehension, you'll take hesitant steps all day, uncertain steps all day. And if you take uncertain steps all day for six years, you can imagine how empty your life can be. We got to help our kids with the promise of the future.

Now, here's what's connected to the promise: the price. The price to pay. But I'm telling you, the price is easy if the promise is clear. One of the better notes to make for today: the price is easy if the promise is clear and powerful. But the price seems almost too much to pay, too much to get over, too much to accomplish if the promise isn't clear, if the promise isn't powerful. I'm telling you, kids will pay the disciplines if they can see the promise. One of our biggest challenges as parents in the '90s is to help our kids see the promise of the future. That's why I'm teaching financial independence, how to become wealthy and powerful and sophisticated and healthy, unique, all of the stuff kids would hope to go for. It's all possible. This is America. That's the promise of the future. The price: a few simple disciplines practiced every day. And I'm telling you, the kids will pay the price of the simple disciplines if they can see the promise of the future. But if they can't see, they don't want to pay. And the same is true of all of us. We will pay the most extraordinary disciplines if we can see the promise of the future. Called setting goals.

So I'm asking you to get a handle on the future. I'm asking you not to leave it to anyone else. Not, don't leave it to the company. Company's got their own goals. I'm asking you to set your own goals: your personal goals, income goals, and financial goals, and health goals, and spiritual goals, and where do you want to go, and what do you want to do, and what do you want to see, and what do you want to be? That's it. Promise of the future. Design your own future. It's within your hands. Your capacity to do so.

Here's how simple now goal setting is. It's not mysterious. You don't have to anchor, you don't have to focus, you don't have to visualize, none of that stuff. Here's how simple goal setting is. Changed my life: decide what you want and write it down. I mean, that's how profound this stuff is. Decide what you want and write it down. Make a list. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? What do you want to see? What do you want to be? What do you want to have? What do you want to share? What projects would you like to support? What would you like to be known for? What skills would you like to learn? Some extraordinary things you'd like to do. Ordinary things you'd like to do. Right? Silly little things you'd like to do. Very important things you'd like to do. Decide. Decide on all that stuff and write it down. Write it down. Write it down. That's how simple the stuff is. And it's your own private list. If it's really private, you know, on your list, put some stuff in code where nobody can understand it. If this list fell into unfriendly hands, and simple things, whatever foolish things, doesn't matter.

It's your list. I had a little revenge on my first list, Budget Finance, who used to harass me. I got two or three payments behind. This one guy called incessantly, said, "We're going to come get your car, drag it rear end up down the street in front of your neighbors." Put me down something fierce.

When I met Cha, got my life straightened out, one of the first things on one of my lists was Budget Finance. And when I finally got got the money, I needed a little drama in my life. Finally got the money to pay him off. I put it in small bills in a big briefcase, walked into the Budget Finance office on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. The guy who harassed me so often, his desk was about three back. I opened the door, walked in, right up to his desk, stood right in front of him. Never said a word. He said, "Well, what are you doing here?" Didn't say a word. I opened up this briefcase, dump this pile of money all over his desk. I said, "Count it. It's all there. I'll never be back." Turned around, walked out, slammed the door.

Now, that might be not be noble, but you got to try it at least one time. Pay off with a little [Applause] drama. Got to check them off my list. Keep your list with you. I keep my list in my journal so that I can go back. Five years ago, here was my list, and I'm a little embarrassed. Here's what I thought was so important. Now, how my philosophy has changed from 10 years ago, five years ago, three years ago. Here's my old list. Here's my new list. Here's what's valuable to me now. Here's what I want my life to be now. Here's where I want to go, what I want to do, what I want to see. Keep your lists of goals so that it shows your growth, shows your ability to change and grow. Your philosophy grows and expands. What's valuable? Setting goals doesn't matter how small, foolish it is, put it on your list. My Japanese friend, Toro Ikada, put on his first list, "A Caucasian Gardener." He thought that was good. I like that.

Have you got this profound thing now on setting goals? Here's how profound it is. Decide what you want and write it down. Get together with your wife, decide. Get together with your kids, decide. Get together with your business colleagues, decide. Write it down. Make a list. Okay, that's how easy it is.

Now, let me give you one more scenario on setting goals. When I started making my first list, Mr. Schopp said, "Mr. R, looks like we're going to be together for a while." He said, "I've got a suggestion for you." He said, "I think one of the first goals you ought to set. You're a 25-year-old American male. Sure, you've made some mistakes, but now you're on the road to better things. You got a family worth it. Reasons make the difference." And he said, "You've got every reason to do this." He said, "Why don't you, among all the goals you're going to set, said, why don't you set a goal to become a millionaire?" A millionaire. This is America. All the possibilities are available. Why don't you set a goal to become a millionaire? Said, "It's got a nice ring to it. Millionaire. Enough zeros to impress your accountant." Millionaire.

And he said, "Here's why." Now, I thought, the man doesn't need to teach me why. I'm thinking, wouldn't it be great to have a million dollars? He said, "No, that's not it. Here's why." And I had one of the greatest lessons I ever learned. And I'm about to share it with you. This will be worth the price of being here today if you can capture what I'm about to share with you. Babysitter fees, whatever else you paid, some of you missed some sales today to be here. So this is a costly day for you. But what I'm about to share with you changed my whole life. Here's what Mr. Schopp said: "Set a goal to become a millionaire." And he said, "Here's why: for what it will make of you to achieve it." And I got one of the greatest classes in one sentence I've ever received in my life. Set a goal that'll make you stretch that far for what it will make of you to achieve it. What a brand new reason for setting goals. What an all-encompassing challenge to have a better vision of the future. What for? To see what it will make of you to achieve it. And here's why: the greatest value in life is not what you get. The greatest value in life is what you become. Major question to ask on the job is not, "What am I getting here?" That's not the major question. The major question to ask is, "What am I becoming here?" It's not what you get that makes you valuable. It's what you become that makes you valuable. So Schopp said, "Set a goal to become a millionaire for what it will make of you to achieve it."

Then he said, "When you finally have become a millionaire." Now, he said, "What's important is not the money." I thought, "Wow, I've got some more to learn." He said, "No, no, Mr. R, I'm telling you honestly, you could just give the money away now." I did better than that, right? I told you I lost it all. I'm rich by the time I'm 31. I'm a millionaire. I'm broke by the time I'm 33. So I didn't have to give it all away. I lost it all. Foolish mistakes I made. That I'm a farm boy from Idaho. That early money drove me bonkers. I used to say, "How many colors does it come in? I'll buy them all." I just went, I went crazy over that first money. I just went crazy. And then I made that one foolish mistake, right? Continuing guarantee. I mean, you know, I'm so naive off the farm. I don't know what continuing means. And a few other mistakes. And by the time I'm 33, I'm broke. Now, I've made and lost millions since then, but what an experience that was. And I'm telling you, the man was right. When I finally was broke at age 33, guess what I discovered? My money did not mean that much. It represented only a fraction of all my assets. Schopp said, "Once you become a millionaire, Mr. R, you can give all the money away because he says, what's important is not the money. What's important is the person you've become."

Now, give me, let me give you the key phrase on setting goals. Set the kind of goals that will make something of you to achieve them. Set the kind of goals that will make something of you to achieve them. Always keep that in mind. What will this make of me if I set this goal and go for it? Not only will I achieve it, but what will it make of me in the process? What a whole new concept on setting goals.

Now, there's two parts to this, then we're wrapping up goals. Here's the first part. Now, on this goal setting for what you become, number one, don't set your goals too low. Interesting. We teach in leadership, you'll find it on the cassettes. Don't join an easy crowd, you won't grow. Go where the expectations are high. Go where the demands are high. Go where the pressure's on to perform, to grow, to change, to develop, to read, to study, to develop skills. I belong to a small group. We do business around the world. You cannot believe the expectations at that level. What we expect of each other in terms of excellence, far beyond average. Why? So that we can each grow. So that we can receive from the group, we can contribute to the group something unprecedented. It's called living at the summit. Go where the demands are high. Go where the expectations are strong so that it'll provoke you, push you, urgently insist that you not remain the same for the next couple of years, the next five years, that you'll grow and change. So don't set your goals too low. The guy says, "Well, I don't need much." Well, then you don't need to become much.

Now, here's the last part on setting goals. Don't compromise. Don't sell out. There were some things I went for back in those early years that I paid too big a price for. If I had have known how much it was going to cost me, I never would have paid. But I didn't know. So don't sell out. Ancient phrase says, "Count the cost." Count the cost. Count the cost. An ancient story says, "Judas got the money." You say, "Well, that's a success story." No, no. It's true. 30 pieces of silver in those days was a size of a fortune. You say, "Well, if a guy's got a fortune, right? That's a success story." No, you don't understand. His name was Judas. Doesn't that ring a bell? Judas. You say, "Oh, yes, Judas." Judas the traitor. That's right. The traitor got the money. Doesn't that change the story? And the answer is, of course, it changes the story.

Interestingly enough, after Judas gets the money from becoming a traitor, he's got the money in his hot little hand, and now he's unhappy. Somebody says, "Well, if you had a fortune, how could you be unhappy?" Well, he wasn't unhappy with the money. He was unhappy with himself. Key phrase: the greatest source of unhappiness is self-unhappiness. The greatest source of unhappiness doesn't come from outside. The greatest source of unhappiness comes from inside. And here's where the erosion starts. Doing a little less than you could. That's where the beginning, little infection of unhappiness starts. Doing a little less than you can, not feeling that good about yourself. So don't let that happen. Judas is unhappy. He says, "What will I do?" He says, "Oh, I'll just take the money back." Walked in where he got the money and said, "Here, take this money. I'm unhappy." They said, "Heck with you, Judas. We got what we wanted. You got what you wanted." Out. They threw him out with his money. Judas says, "Well, what will I do now?" He says, "Oh, clever. Should have thought of this first. I'll just throw the money away." And he proceeded to throw his fortune away. Why would he throw his fortune away? He was so unhappy with himself. And that's not even the end of the scenario. After he threw his fortune away, he couldn't change what he became. A traitor. And now, in total abject frustration, he goes out and hangs his worthless self, which all traitors should do. Save the state the money. Why such a tragic end? Because he was so unhappy with himself. He sold out. He sold out. He paid too big a price. Ancient script sums it all up and said, "What if you gain the whole world and it cost you your soul?" Too big a price to pay. If you got the whole world, don't sell out. Don't compromise your values. Don't compromise your virtues. Don't compromise your philosophy. Keep. Here's the key word: beware. If Judas could speak back, he'd probably say, "Beware." Two good words from ancient script. One, behold. The positive word. Behold the possibilities. Behold the opportunity. Behold the drama. Behold the awesomeness. Behold the uniqueness. Behold the majesty. Behold. What a good word. But here's the other word: beware. Beware. Beware. Don't sell out. Mark well what you become in pursuit of what you want. But I'm inspiring you, hopefully, to set the kind of goals that'll transform your life, make you far better than you are, far stronger than you are. Okay? Isn't this good advice? This is such good stuff. I should have paid to get in, right? Fabulous.

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What should a child do with a dollar? Let me give you the best advice I've got. And this is called sort of middle-of-the-road scenario. And I'll show you how these numbers may change. But here's what I teach kids: never spend more than 70 cents. Now, you got to pick some number. When I met Mr. Schopp, I was at about 110%. But remember this: if your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep becomes your downfall. Good little scenario. So here's the number that I found works best in in developing a good financial plan: never spend more than 70 cents out of every dollar from now on. Now, kids ask me, "What, what do you do with the other 30 cents?" Here's my best advice: 10 cents charity. 10% charity. Supporting worthy projects, helping people who cannot help themselves. Some churches teach tithe, peace, portion, turning back part of what you take out. Excellent, excellent philosophy. That's what that 10% is. And nothing teaches children responsibility and character better than generosity. No school, no class, no teacher can teach character better than the simple act of generosity. 10 cents out of every dollar. Now, you can pick your own number. I'm just giving you my best scenario. Now, the time to start this is when the amounts are small. Easy to give a dime out of a dollar. I'm telling you, kids will give you 10 cents out of every dollar if it's part of their philosophy, if you sell them on it. And that's the time to start when it's easy. 10 cents out of a dollar. A little harder to give a $100,000 out of a million. Someone says, "Oh, if I had a million dollars, I'd give $1,000." I'm not that sure. We better start too early when the amounts are small so it'll all be set in when the big amounts start to come. Okay? So, 10 cents for charity.

The next 10 cents I call Active Capital. Capital meaning, meaning try to make a profit yourself. We live in a capitalistic society, right? Everybody now wants to join capitalism. That's why the walls are coming down. Capital belongs in the hands of the people. That's where the genius is. So the genius is to try to show a profit, buy and sell, render service, show a profit. Now, here's what I teach kids: profits are better than wages. Wages are okay, but wages help you make a living. Profits help you make a fortune. The key is to just understand philosophically a little simple economic scenario. And there's all kinds of ways to make a profit. I'm working on a new book. Here's what it's called. I think it's going to be called, "Of Course, Kids Should Pay Taxes." It's going to be an interesting book. In California, where I live, kids do pay taxes. If an 8-year-old walks into 7-Eleven, buys something that cost a dollar, the proprietor makes him cough up seven more pennies. 8-year-old says, "What's these seven pennies?" Proprietor says, "That's taxes. That's taxes." Kid says, "Well, I'm only eight." Proprietor says, "Congratulations, you're my youngest taxpayer." So in California, kids do pay taxes. Now, the question is, should they? Now, the title of my book is, "Of Course, Kids Should Pay Taxes." You got it right. The disciple went and caught a fish, found the miracle coins, and paid his taxes. Jesus' taxes. So way back then, Jesus did pay taxes. Now, the question is, should he? And the answer, my little book says, "Of course, Jesus and kids should pay taxes." Of course, of course. If an 8-year-old wants to ride his bicycle on the sidewalk instead of in the mud, you have to pay taxes. Things cost money. Got to pay taxes. Aircraft carriers keep tyranny over there instead of over here. Aircraft carriers cost money. It's expensive to run this whole show. We can't use used missiles. I mean, you know, it's expensive to run the whole deal. Of course, everybody has to pay.

Now, active capital means try your best to show a profit. Now, there's many ways to show a profit. Not just money. Touch something, leave it better than you found it. That's a profit. Some profits are intangible. Some profits are tangible. Long before Earth Day, for all sophisticated people, it was very proper when you left your hotel room to turn out the lights. All educated people. Why? Leave a profit. It's so easy to flip the switch and leave a profit. Some say, "Well, the hotel gets the profit. What do you care?" All you need to become is a person who leaves a profit. Wow. I talked to a man who runs a whole string of apartments. He said, "Guess what? Most people when they rent an apartment, leave it what? Trashed. Worse than they found it." What kind of a reputation would that be? Whatever you touch turns to trash. Whatever you touch gets dirty. Nothing you touch gets better. See, that's a poor philosophy. No wonder it leads to poverty, small lives. As one writer said, "Living lives of quiet desperation." This is where it all begins. Failure to leave a profit when you can. Turn out the lights. Doesn't matter what it is. Become profit-minded. Profits are better than wages because profit has the potential to make a fortune. Wages has the potential to make a living. So I teach kids, take part of your wages, if you earn the money, take part of it for charity and part of it to see if you can't make a profit. And there's all kinds of ways. My book's going to be full of all kinds of ways kids can make money. I teach kids how to have two bicycles, one to ride and one to rent. You know, it doesn't take long to get into business. You don't have to be a genius. Halfway bright, you can start showing a profit.

Now, here's the next 10 cents called Passive Capital. Meaning, let somebody else use the capital you provide. You're passive, they're active, and let them pay you interest, profits, and interest. Unique way to make a fortune. In fact, there's a Bible philosophy I teach teenagers. This Bible philosophy. Here's what it teaches: "The borrower is servant to the lender." Wow. So where is the power position? Not a spender, a lender. And if I've taught teenagers well, if you ask them among some of the things you want to be, you know, when you grow up, you know, as years pile on, what would you like to be? I'm telling you, among some of the things that they would like to be, if they've sat in on my classes or gotten some of my material, they would say, "I want to be one of them lenders." Powerful position. Let somebody else use your capital. Some projects require more capital than any one person has. So we've got capital pools, whether you put it in a financial institution or whatever, right? Earn an interest, earn a profit, right? Buy a car and sell it for more than you paid for it. Why? Because you leave it better than you found. Touch something and leave a profit. Okay? It's not just wrapped up in money and economics. This helps to teach all other scenarios of life on profit and capital and expenditures, what to do with your time and what to do with your life, and as well as what to do with your money. Okay?

Now, this little scenario I call the ideal. Now, here's what's important to set up the ideal and work toward it because at first, you may not be able to do these numbers. Some people are in such desperate situation currently, they got to go 97, 11, and 1. I mean, you know, I had to start there. Start with pennies. And remember, it's not the amount that counts. Mr. Schopp gave me the clear situation. Here it is: It's not the amount that counts. It's the plan that counts. When I met Mr. Schopp, I'm 25 years old. I said to him, "If I had more money, I'd have a better plan." He said, "No, Mr. Rone, if you had a better plan, you'd have more money." Six years. Six years in America. Six years. Come on. It's not the money. It's not the amount. It's the plan that counts. So set up an ideal plan like this. Now, you can rearrange this and modify it to suit yourself. I'm just giving you here as an example. So set up the ideal and then start making progress toward it. Okay? Because finally, these numbers are going to change. If you move on up into the higher area, right? The people I work with around the world, couldn't spend 70 cents out of every dollar. Would be obscene. That'd be too much. So these numbers are bound to change. I don't know what mine are. Probably 20% up here. Lot larger numbers down here. Okay? So these numbers can change. I'm just offering you a good sample philosophy. Remember, philosophy is the set of the sale. The economy is not the set of the sale. For you, the set of the sale is your own philosophy, your own thinking, your own plan, your own concept. Don't borrow somebody else's plan. Don't borrow somebody else's concept. Don't borrow the concept, you know, spend all you can, cross your fingers and hope for the best. Don't borrow that. Develop your own philosophy. And I'm telling you, it'll lead you to unique places.

Now, the rest of a lot of this is on the cassette. Taste. But let me just give you two or three more pieces of the scenario here, then I want to talk about communications, and then we're going to wrap it up. Okay? Here's two or three more parts to financial independence. Number one, keep strict accounts. This is the best of disciplines. Keep strict accounts. Did you ever hear this expression? "I don't know where it all goes." Did you ever hear that? "I don't know where it all goes." "Oh, we'd love to have you run our company." "You don't know where it all goes." Whoa. Did you ever hear this? "It just gets away from me." "It just seems it just gets away from me." "Uh, we'd love to turn the world over you." "It just gets away from you." Come on. You got to have better disciplines than that. Let that be the 90%. Let that be the scenario of the 97%. But don't let it be your scenario. Don't let it become your philosophy. Keep strict accounts.

Next, a new attitude. I had to develop a new attitude as well as new concepts. Here's what I used to say: "I hate to pay my taxes." Schopp said, "Well, that's one way to live." I thought, "Well, doesn't everybody hate to pay their taxes?" He said, "No, no. A few of us have gotten way past that." He says, "Once you understand what taxes are." Here's what taxes are in our governmental system, in our society. Taxes is how you care and feed the goose that lays the golden eggs. Democracy and liberty and freedom, free enterprise. Wouldn't you want to feed the goose that lays the golden eggs? Somebody says, "Well, the goose eats too much." That's probably true. I understand that. Of course, that's true. But see, better a fat goose than no goose. And here's the truth be known, we all eat too much. Let not one appetite accuse another. Of course, the government needs to go on a diet. So do most of us. But hey, you still have to care and feed the goose that lays the golden eggs. Once you understand that that's what it's for, see, it is so important. The right attitude. Here's what I used to say: "I hate to pay my bills." You open up the mail, nothing but these window envelopes, bills. I hate to pay my bills. Schopp said, "Well, that's one way to live." I said, "Well, doesn't everybody hate to pay their bills?" He said, "No. Some of us are way beyond that." I said, "Is it possible to love to pay your bills?" He said, "Yes. Yes. Reduce your liabilities, increase your assets." Wouldn't you love to do that? So start a whole new attitude. Next time you pay $100 on an account, put a little note in there and say, "With great delight, I send you this $100." I mean, they don't get many letters like that. Reduce my liabilities, increase my assets. My picture's changing. My picture's improving. I love to pay my bills. Keep the money in circulation. Pay my taxes. Feed the goose that lays the golden eggs. It's a matter of attitude.

And here's the last on attitude. Everybody must pay. Of course, life is called opportunity, but life is called price that we must all pay. We must all share. One of the classic stories of all time from ancient Bible script says Jesus, one day, and his disciples were standing by the church treasury, synagogue treasury, watching people as they came by and put their offering in the treasury. Wouldn't that be a bad idea? Jesus and his disciples standing by the treasury while everybody walks by. Jesus says, "How much was that? How much was that?" Interesting. And the story said, some people came by, put in big amounts. Some people came by, put in modest amounts, average amounts. And the story says, then a little lady comes by and puts in two pennies in the treasury. Jesus says to his disciples, "Look at that. Look at that." His disciples said, "Two pennies? Two pennies? What's two pennies?" Jesus said, "No, you don't understand. She gave more than everybody else." They said, "Two pennies is more than everybody else?" He said, "Yes, because I'm certain that her two pennies represented most of what she had. And if you give most of what you have, then you've given the most." Wow. What a lesson to learn. It's not the amount. It's what it represents of your life that counts.

Now, let me give you the wisdom of the scenario that did not occur. And this is the greatest of wisdom. And in my own particular peculiar brilliance, I have the ability to record for you what was not recorded in the scenario of the story. Here's this. Here's what did not occur, which may teach us one of the greatest of the wise things that was taught in this scenario. Here's this. Here's what did not occur in the scenario: Jesus did not reach into the treasury and get this little lady's two pennies and run after her and say, "Here, little lady, my disciples and I have decided that you're so pitiful and you're so poor that we've decided to give you back your two pennies." I'm telling you, that did not occur. If it would have occurred, she would have been, would have been what? Insulted. She would have rightfully said, "I know my two pennies aren't much, but it represented most of what I had. And would you insult me by not letting me contribute what I wanted to contribute, even if it's only two pennies?" I'm telling you, that did not occur. Here's part of the wisdom of the story that was not recorded: Jesus left her pennies in the treasury. Meaning, everybody has to pay, even if it's only pennies. That's the key. And whether you start with pennies, or whether you start with dollars, or whether you start with nothing, remember, part of the scenario is to spend. Of course, part of the scenario is to invest, and part of the scenario is to show a profit, and part of the scenario is to help take care of people who can't take care of themselves. If you'll set up your own philosophy, I'm not asking you to buy my philosophy. I'm not asking you to adopt my numbers. I'm only wanting to provoke you to think for you to come up with a splendid economic philosophy that's got you up early and got you up late, has got you thinking and pondering ways to use your resources and turn it into the dreams you want for the future. And that's my little story on financial independence.

Okay, here's the next to the last subject: communication. How to affect other people with words. I've got a just a four, little four-point program here for you to consider. The whole expanded version, now three days, right? Three days of all this is in the is in that package that you're taking home. So this is called an abbreviated version of all the rest. This one-day video. Day four steps to good communication. Here's number one. First of all, words can work miracles. That's why communication is so important. Words are powerful. Words are almost God-like. In fact, ancient script says, "The Word was God. God was the Word." Wow. Words and God. I said to my Israeli audience last year, "In the beginning, the story of creation is unique. It says, 'In the beginning, Jehovah God spoke and said what?'" Got some students here, I'm sure. "In the beginning, Jehovah God spoke and said what? Let there be light." And what there was light. Wow. Wow. It looks like words create light. Is that possible? I'm telling you, it's possible. Humans can get pretty close. What if somebody can't possibly see how they could do well, how they could become successful, how they could transform their lives and their health, their future, and their finances, spiritually, in every other way? They can't see. And you come along and share your story, and maybe borrow some other stories. And by the time you get through with a good presentation to this person, they say, "Now I can see. Before you got here, I was blind. I was in the dark. And while you were talking, some things dawned on me." Is it possible to create light with human intelligence, with words? And the answer is, of course. Of course. Here's part of the spectacular opportunity as a human being. One, one person talking to another. It's got so much power, so much potential. A mother talking to a daughter, a father talking to a son, salesperson talking to a client. Nothing more magical and powerful, awe-inspiring than words have the ability to dramatically affect people's lives and futures. So become good communicators. Let me give you some good keys to good communication. Here's number one: Have something good to say. Communication starts with preparation. Getting ready to speak this year, getting ready to speak next year. Attend the classes, read the books. Have something good to say. Here's four good words to help you to have something good to say. One is interest. Develop a new interest in people and life and what's going on. Economics and politics, religion, social structure, possibilities, opportunities. Develop a new interest. Here's the next word: Fascination. Goes that step beyond interest. That's why kids learned so much that first six years. Fascination. Adults are walking on ants. Kids are saying, "Don't walk on these ants. I'm studying these ants. I'm looking at these ants." Kids are so fascinated. How come an ant can carry something bigger than he is? Wow. That's how come they learn so much. They're fascinated. And here's another little clue I've learned: turn frustration into fascination if you can. You'll learn more. I've worked on this. I'm pretty good at it. Out in Los Angeles, I'm on the freeway. My airplane leaves in 45 minutes. The traffic is moving not 1 inch. I am now fascinated. I'm telling you. Now, it doesn't work every time, that's true. But every time it does work, I'm telling you, you'll come away with more. Learn to be fascinated instead of frustrated if you possibly can. Turn that little scenario on for yourself. Next is sensitivity. You got to understand. We use the phrase, "Where people are coming from." Where they've been, what's going on. Sensitivity training is so important. People not like you. People that have got challenges and problems and difficulties. You got to do your best to be sensitive to other people where they find themselves, the pit they might be in currently, what's going on. Be sensitive to that. Here's two of the greatest things said about Jesus. One, it said he was touched. He was touched by where he found some people. He was touched by the misery he found some people in. He was touched. He was touched. And here's the other word: he was moved. It said he was moved. Touched and moved. If you really want to communicate well, you got to be touched and moved. Not just by your own drama of life, but by the drama you know is going on in other people's lives. Sensitivity. How does an adult 40 talk to a child who's 12? You got to be sensitive. Not just to your current situation. One of the best ways to identify with a child who's 12 and you're 40 is remember when you were 12. Go back. Go back. Remember the scenario and let it hit you again. Let it touch you again. I don't have any problems with 12-year-olds. I remember almost every day of being 12. 12 is a unique year. One, you're not 13. I mean, you know, if I heard it once, I heard it a hundred times. "Of course, you can't go. You're not a teenager." Wow. I can't wait for this year to be finished. Remember that's part of sensitivity. Remember Apostle, one who became an apostle, leader of the Christians, was once Saul from Tarsus, hater and killer of the Christians. After he was converted, became a leader, became Paul, Apostle, revered. Why was he so effective in his language and his ability to touch people with his words and with his presence? If you read part of the scenario of his history, he gave an account of his own life and said, "Here's why I think I'm so effective. I remember the pit I came from." Sure, they call me Apostle, but I used to kill these Christians. And I never forget that. If I want to get in touch with other people's difficulty, I got to remember my own difficulty. Let it hurt again. That's what makes a good performance, a good actor, a good actress. The emotion close to the surface from the remembrance of things past. And then well-chosen words, delivered with emotion, powerful. The last word is knowledge. You just got to go through exercises like this. Take the notes. Work hard. Roll up your sleeves. Go to work. Gather the knowledge in journals, gather the knowledge in notebooks, gather the knowledge in a library and cassettes and videos and every other means. Gather knowledge. Don't be lazy in learning. A major part of communication is preparation.

Here's the next part of good communication: Say it well. One is having something good to say. Hey, number two is saying it well. Let me give you a quick list on saying it well. Number one, sincerity. Best place to start. You want to communicate well, is let your sincerity show. Next is repetition. The mother of skill. I've been at this 33 years. Someone says, "Well, you give a pretty good seminar." I should. 33 years. 33 years. Repetition. Next, brevity. Sometimes you don't need many words. If you're totally sincere, I'm telling you, Jesus' presentation and gathering up his team called Disciples was fairly short. He just walked around the countryside, took a look at somebody and said, "You follow me." That's brief. I mean, you know, that's short. Now, why could he get by with such few words? And this takes care of a lot that I've tried to share with you today called personal development. Here's why I think Jesus could get by with such few words. For all that he was, that he didn't have to say. Take that scenario home. For all that I am, that I don't have to say. Just a few words could be dynamic in affecting someone else's life. A child, a business colleague, a sales client. Next, vocabulary. Got to work on your vocabulary. Some of my friends, friends took a survey among prisoners working on some rehabilitation program. They weren't particularly looking for this, but here's what they found. There's definitely a relationship between vocabulary and behavior. And here's what they found out: the more limited the vocabulary, the more tendency to poor behavior. And when you think about it for a while, it makes sense. Words are a way of seeing. And if you don't have a good vocabulary, you can't see very well, can you? Imagine the mistakes in judgment when you can't see very well. Next, words are a way of expressing what's going on in your head, what's going on in your heart. What if you can't see well and you can't express well? You can imagine the tragic scenario of five years of that, 10 years of that, 20 years of that, showing no improvement. Behavior now becomes a major problem. And that person's world gets smaller and smaller and smaller. Why? They can't see and they can't express. And finally, they don't need much bigger place than a 10x12 cell. Their world is so small anyway. Don't need much bigger place. I'm asking you to stretch your vocabulary. I used to put words up on a 3x5 card. I drove a lot back in those days, but at the end of the day, I'd mastered two or three words. My oldest daughter, Linda, with my grandkids, starts the day with what's called the word for the day. She writes it on a chalkboard. The word for the day. And the kids memorize that word and the meaning of the word. And every once in a while during the day, she'll say, "What's the word for the day?" The last day I was there, the word was superficial. Natalie's four, Nathaniel's five. And several times during that day, Linda, my daughter, would say, "What's the word for the day?" Natalie would say, "Superficial." And she would say, "Nathaniel, what does that mean?" "On the surface." Several times during the day, "What's the word for the day?" "Superficial." "What does it mean?" "On the surface." If you were to ask my grandkids the last time Grandpa was here, what was the word for the day? I'll bet you they'd probably know. Superficial. On the surface. Word for the day. Why not learn a word a day? Why not add to your vocabulary so you can see more, see better, and express better? Put out in words what's in your heart, what's in your soul, what's in your mind. It's important. So say it well.

Here's number three. Number one was have something good to say. Number two, say it well. Here's number three: Read your audience. These are just simple concepts. Now, you got to add some of the details, but that's what I'm mainly good for, concepts. Read your audience. If you're talking to a child, you got to study the face of the child. You got to study a little body language. You got to study what's going on so you'll know whether to shift gears, come on a little stronger, ease off a little, might be too strong, search for another illustration, soft, strong. A lot of that is dictated by reading your audience. When I first started lecturing, I had some challenges here. I was so absorbed in my notes, lecturing like this. I'm telling you, in those early days, the audience could have left, and I'd kept right on going. I didn't know what was going on down here. I didn't know what was going on over here. I didn't have any idea what was happening over here, whether I should come on a little stronger, ease back. I didn't know. I couldn't read my audience. So read your audience. A prospect. Read. Now, let me give you some ways to read. Number one, by what you see. Body language tells us some things. How to shift gears, whether to go on, whether to stop. If you're talking to somebody and they're leaning toward the door, that means you got to hurry, right? They're not going to be here long. Body language. Guy's got his arms folded, chin tucked down. You got your work cut out for you. You're going to have to reach deep in your bag, find some extraordinary stories. This one's not going to be easy. What tells you that? Reading what you see. Here's the next one: Read what you hear. You got to read a child's impatience. Kids don't mind telling you whether they're bored or impatient. Kids' attention span is short. Doesn't last long. You got to get it said. You start talking to a child, 30 seconds, they say, "How long's this going to take?" Whoa. Read. Listen. Listen for the response. Now you'll know whether to shift gears, change your language, find a new illustration, soften, stronger. Read your audience. Read what you see. Read what you hear. And here's one of the most important: Read what you feel. Now, women are probably better at this than men when it comes to picking up emotional signals. Men, they can see, and men, they can hear, but it takes a little training for a man to pick up those emotional signals that are so important so you don't say the wrong stuff. Because it's so easy to make a mistake in language. What if you meant to say to someone you care about, what if you meant to say, "What's troubling you?" And instead you said, "What's wrong with you?" Communication. So read the emotional signals. If we could learn from the women on this. Emotion. Women have this uncanny antenna picking up this stuff. Stuff. Woman says, "Doesn't feel right." I mean, what does that mean? "It doesn't feel right." "It doesn't feel right." Women have got the. Women have got it, though. Seems to be built in. Especially danger. Women pick it up quicker than men. It's built in. I think way back, right? The man was the provider. Mama was the protector at home. So she picked up this scenario of danger. I think these signals. But they are good. In the middle of the night, Mama wakes up. The baby cries. Mama wakes up. Papa sleeps. The faintest cry. Mama's awake. Or she nudges her husband and says, "Go look. Go look. Something isn't right." He said, "What do you mean it isn't right?" She says, "No, go look." He said, "Hey, everything's okay." She says, "Go look." He said, "Okay." And he gets out of bed, goes downstairs. The front door is open. How did she know that? We don't know. I mean, she just knows. Just knows. But I'm telling you, it's so valuable in communication to be able to pick up the emotional signals as well as what you see and as well as what you hear. So important. But women are good. Ancient scenario says this: "There are shepherds, and there are sheep, and there are wolves." What a good life scenario. But it doesn't stop there. This ancient scenario says also, "Some wolves are so clever, they've learned to dress up like sheep." Now you got to have a woman. Got to have a woman. Man says, "Looks like a sheep. Talks like a sheep." Woman says, "Ain't no sheep. Take my word for it." They know. Read. Pick up the signals. Don't ignore the signals. Develop this personal development scenario. Communication, financial independence, and all the rest.

Now, here's the last part: intensity. Words mixed with emotion. Words mixed with hate. Words mixed with love. Words mixed with faith. Words mixed with courage. That's what's powerful. Words have a certain effect, but words loaded with emotion have an incredible effect. If I had a little straight pin, right? Guy buys a shirt, it's got all these little pins in it. I take out all these pins. If I took one of those little straight pins and I threw it at you, and let's say it reached you and hit you in the face or hit you in the hand, you'd feel it. This little straight pin. You'd feel it. That means I got you with my words. But what if I took that little straight pin and wired it to the end of an iron bar about that long? See, I could drive that pin through your heart. The pin is the words. The iron bar is the emotions. The emotions. Here's the best I can share with you: put more of you into what you say. Don't be casual in language. Don't be casual in in words. Casualness leads to casualties on the freeway and in communication. Don't be lazy in learning good communication and put more of you. Now, here's the last thought: the emotions must be measured. It can't be too much for the occasion. If it's not called for. In leadership, we teach, don't shoot a cannon at a rabbit. It's effective, but you got no more rabbit. So here's some of the most powerful scenario in communication. Here it is: well-chosen words mixed with measured emotion. The basis of affecting people with good communication. Well-chosen words mixed with measured emotion. And one last point on communication: the more you care, the stronger you can be. The more you care as a mother, the stronger you can be with your children. The more you care as a father, the stronger you can be. The more you care as a leader, the stronger you can be in helping to solve problems, getting on somebody's case. The more you care. But you got to care. I don't mind a minister consigning my soul to hellfire for my sinful ways. I don't mind that if he believes it. I don't mind him consigning my soul to hellfire for my sinful ways, as long as he does it with tears and not with joy. If you're going to preach a message on hellfire and consign people to hell's fire, you got to cry and sob your way through a sermon on hellfire. We would all dismiss as a performance, a dry-eyed sermon on hellfire. You can't legitimately preach hellfire unless your heart breaks. Otherwise, it's a performance. Otherwise, we could all dismiss it. Why? The heart's not there. There are some conversations that don't make sense unless they're accompanied by tears. It doesn't mean anything unless it's accompanied by a broken heart. Learn measured emotions. Remember, draw from well-chosen words, expanded vocabulary, be interested and fascinated. Pull all this together. I'm telling you, your ability to touch other people will grow day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year.

Here's my last subject. It comes in two parts. First is the negative part, and I got just a couple of tips for you on negative. There wouldn't be positive without negative. It's part of the life scenario. Ancient script says it best: "There's a time to laugh." And once you've learned to laugh, just keep on laughing. No, no, no. Just get another positive book. No, no. "There's a time to laugh." What? And a time to cry. And you've got to become so sophisticated and so well-educated that you don't laugh when it's time to cry. And

You've also got to learn to cry well. How are you going to identify with some people if you don't cry with them? It's very important. The negative side is very important. Negative thinking. I teach kids, and you'll find it on those cassettes, the ant philosophy. Let me just give you the quick scenario on the ant philosophy.

Number one, ants never quit. What a good philosophy. If they're going somewhere, you stop them, guess what? They'll look for another way. How long will they look? Till they find it, or till they die. What a great philosophy. But here's number two. I can't give them all to you, but here's number two. Ants think winter all summer. You at least got to be that bright. You can't think summer all summer. You got to do some winter thinking in the summer. You say, "Well, the sky is blue, the clouds are fleecy." You can't be faked out by that. Ancient story says, "Don't build your house on the sand in the summer." Why would we be cautioned not to build our house on the sand in the summer? Because it's easy to get faked out. So what should you do during the summer? Think winter. Think storm. That'll drive you to find a rock in the summer when the sky is blue.

Key negative is normal. You got to handle it. You can't dismiss it. It's part of the life scenario, like your white corpuscle we talked about earlier. So don't ignore it. Let it be part of the scenario. Here's the key: learn to master it. Negative is not to be ignored. It's to be mastered. It makes us better than we are to wrestle with it. It makes us better than we are to be alerted to tyranny that moves into Kuwait, or ignorance that moves into your life, or procrastination that moves in and robs you of your fortune, or poor health that's going to be the legacy of those who neglect their health disciplines. You got to do battle with the enemies on the outside and on the inside. So learn how to handle the negative.

And now, here's the last, last call: the positive. Let me give you the day that turns your life around as quickly as I can. I got four parts to the day that turns your life around, and then we're finished for the day.

Number one, disgust. Disgust, disgust. Disgust is a negative emotion, but it can have a very positive, powerful effect. Disgust says, "I've had it." What an important day that could be. "I've had it." Wow. I met a beautiful, powerful, accomplished executive lady in New York. Company invited me to come in. This lady was a vice president, extraordinary lady. I got to know her, and I found out her story. I said, "How did you get here? Big income." And she never went to high, never went to college, never went to university. I said, "How did you get here? Executive, powerful income." She said, "Well, let me tell you part of the scenario. She said, when I was a young mother a few years ago, she said, one day I asked my husband for $10, and he said, 'What for?'" She said, "Before that day was over, I decided I would never, ever ask again." She said, "I started studying opportunity, found it, took the classes, put myself through the school, schools, did the scenario. Now I'm vice president, I make a lot of money." And she said, "I kept my promise. I've never, ever had to ask again." It's called a life-changing day. The day you say, "Enough is enough." Now, if you can add an act to your disgust, it helps. A man takes a shotgun to his car, blows out every window, destroys every tire, puts 100 rounds in it, and says, "I've driven this embarrassing thing for the last time." And then he saves it. He saves it. And later, when somebody says, "How did you become rich and powerful?" He says, "Let me show you this car. One day, I'd had it up to here. I blew it to smithereens. Enough is enough." Powerful.

Here's the last three. Next to decision. Decision-making is a life-changing day. If you went home today and in the next few days cleaned up a list of decisions, it could furnish enough inspiration for the next five years, ten years. What an inspiring day. The day you can bring yourself to decide. And here's the third one: desire. Wanting it too bad enough. Who knows the mystery of that? We don't know. But here's something I do know. Sometimes desire waits for a trigger, waits for something to happen. Who knows what the happening may be? A song, the lyrics, a movie, the dialogue, a seminar, a sermon, a book, an experience, confrontation with an enemy, a conversation with a friend who finally levels with you. Whatever the experience, it is so valuable. And here's my best advice: welcome all experiences. You never know which one is going to turn everything on. Don't put up the walls. The same wall that keeps out disappointment keeps out happiness. Take down the walls. Go for the experience. Let it teach you.

And here's the last one: resolve. Resolve says, "I will." Two of the most powerful words in the language. Benjamin Israeli said, "Nothing can resist a human will that will stake its existence on its purpose." Shortly put, "I'll do it or die." Best definition of resolve I got from a little junior high girl in Foster City, California. I'm going through some words one day. I got to this one, and I asked the kids, "Who can tell me what resolve means?" Some didn't know. Some tried. Interesting. The last one was the best. Little girl, about three feet back, she said, "I think I know, Mr. R." I said, "What?" She said, "I think resolve means promising yourself you will never give up." I said, "That's the best I've ever heard." She's probably giving seminars somewhere today, right? I mean, that's the best I've heard. I asked the kids, "How long should a baby try to learn how to walk?" "How long would you give your average baby before you say, 'Hey, enough's enough'?" No. Any mother in the world would say, "You're crazy. My baby is going to keep trying." What? Until what? A magic word. I want you to write it down. Until. Promise yourself you'll read the books until your skills change. You'll go to seminars until you get a handle on it. You'll listen to it until it makes sense. You'll go for it until you understand it. You'll practice it until you develop the skill. Never give up until, however long that is. Step by step, piece by piece, book by book, word by word, apple by apple. Walk around the block. Walk around the block. Go for it. Don't miss the chance to grow. And resolve that you'll pay the price until you learn, change, grow, become. Then you'll discover some of life's best treasures when you pay that price.

Now, here's my last word to you. As leaders in the community, I'm sure you are parents. The greatest challenge of leadership is parenting. Whether you're in sales or management, wherever I found you today, I want to give you from my heart to you what I wished you would do from this seminar today. And if I've inspired you to do this part here, among all the other things I've talked about, I would have considered it worthwhile to leave my family, fly away from my home, drop down into Fort Worth, Dallas, and spend one of my very precious days with you. If I can accomplish this, it'll all be worthwhile. It comes in two parts, and here it is.

One, learn to help people with their lives, not just their jobs. Learn to help people with their lives, not just their skills on the job. Touch people with a book. Touch people with a poem. Touch people with some words. Don't fail to say something that could be meaningful. Help people with their lives. Help them set their goals. Help them with their dreams. Help them with the future. Help them with errors. Help them with mistakes. Help people. Help your kids not just get along, not just hang in there, not just try to hold a family together. Try to build lives with communication. Build lives with setting goals. Help your kids with their lives, not just their homework, their lives.

And here's my last one for you personally, because I'm probably one of the best examples of this standing before you in this auditorium today. Here it is. Ancient script says, "If you work on your gifts, they will make room for you." If you work on your gifts, they will make room for you. Wow. Look where my gifts have brought me today, to this room, a chance to invest in this many lives. I.